(Clearwisdom.net) Ms. Luan Xiuyuan, 58, Ms. Dai Lixia, 56, and Ms. Jiao Lingyun were arrested at the cafeteria where they work, in Jianxin Middle School in Jixian County, Shuangya City, Heilongjiang Province on the morning of June 10, 2011. Ms. Jiao was taken to Jixian Detention Center, where she died as a result of persecution after being held there for 29 days. Ms. Luan and Ms. Dai were taken to Jiamusi City Detention Center, where their health quickly deteriorated.

When officials from Xiangyang District Court in Jiamusi held a trial in the Jiamusi Detention Center for Ms. Luan and Ms. Dai on September 5, 2011, they only allowed three relatives of each practitioner into the courtroom, and their defense lawyers were forced to stop working on the case before the trial.

Jiamusi Detention Center

Ms. Dai's family first hired a lawyer from Fujian Province. At 8:30 a.m. on August 29, 2011, the lawyer went to Xiangyang Court to submit documentation requesting that he represent Ms. Dai in court, and asked to look at the case file. The president of Xiangyang District Court, Song Tao, informed the lawyer that it was not possible to administer the documentation that day, and suggested that he return the following day. The lawyer returned at 8:30 a.m. on August 30, only to find Song Tao still denying him the right to look over the case files. When the lawyer asked when it would be possible to see the files, Song replied, “You will have to wait for us to call you.”

Court president Song Tao

The defense lawyer phoned Song Tao at 2:00 p.m. on August 31 to ask to see the case files again. Song informed him that it would be possible to see them in the afternoon of the following day, and also said that he would be able to inform him of the trial date. Song Tao then had the Ministry of Justice threaten the law firm representing Ms. Dai. As a result, the law firm's director called the lawyer and ordered him to quit the case immediately.

Ms. Luan's family members went to the court with their lawyer from Heilongjiang Province to start the defense process on the morning of September 2. They were refused entry to the court, and Song Tao did not answer his phone when they tried to call him. They then waited at the courthouse gate to see Song. When Song appeared, he told the lawyer that Ms. Luan did not ask for a lawyer, and refused to let them in. When the lawyer and Ms. Luan's family members went to the Appeals Office at the court, they were told that they must speak to Song. The lawyer quit the case after realizing that the court was intentionally keeping him out.

The lawyer who was denied entrance to the court

On the afternoon of Thursday, September 1, the practitioners' families got news that the trial would be held at 9 a.m. on Monday, September 5. With so little time, they still managed to hire three lawyers from Beijing. The lawyers arrived over the weekend and the court was closed. So they went to the detention center where the trial would be held in the early Monday morning. Song Tao accepted the lawyers' documents but did not allow them into the court, saying that he needed to verify the documents. Just before the trial was about to start, he returned the lawyers' documents and rejected their request to defend the practitioners, stating that it was too late. He also rejected the lawyers' request to attend the trial.

Three lawyers forced to wait outside during the trial

Lots of guards were inside and outside the court on the day of the trial. The judge stated that Ms. Luan and Ms. Dai had violated the law by “sabotaging the enforcement of law.” Ms. Luan asked which act of law enforcement was sabotaged, but did not receive an answer. The whole trial lasted for half an hour and ended abruptly, as the judge adjourned the court.

Plainclothes officers wait outside the court

Ms. Luan has been arrested ten times during the last twelve years because of her belief. She has been fired from her job and has been repeatedly subjected to forced labor. Ms. Dai has been repeatedly harassed, arrested and subjected to forced labor.

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President of Chinese District Court in Jiamusi City Obstructed Barrister's Viewing of Legal Documents on Several Occasions
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Falun Dafa Practitioner Ms. Luan Xiuyuan Arrested Ten Times, Currently Facing an Illegal Trial
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Mr. Jiao Lingyun Killed and Ms. Luan Xiuyuan and Ms. Dai Lixia Both in Critical Condition
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