(Clearwisdom.net) Four Falun Gong practitioners—Ms. Han Xiufang, Mr. He Yuhu, Mr. Jin Yinwu, and Ms. Feng Caihong from Huining County, Baiyin City, Gansu Province—were arrested in September 2011 and are at present still illegally detained. Huining County Political and Judiciary Committee and 610 Office agents have used all kinds of tricks in an attempt to sentence the practitioners to prison. 610 Office agents exerted pressure on the procuratorate and the court and threatened, intimidated and deceived their family members in order to prevent them from hiring lawyers for the practitioners.

Ms. Han Xiufang's family hired a lawyer from Beijing to enter a “not guilty” plea for her. During the investigation phase at the procuratorate, local practitioners widely spoke with officers in the legal system about Falun Gong and the persecution. At the same time, the lawyer explained to procurators in detail that it is completely legal to practice Falun Gong in China, and Falun Gong practitioners' distributing truth clarifying materials is exercising their freedom of speech and should be protected by law. Thus the Huining County Procuratorate didn't accept the cases and returned the files twice for lack of evidence.

Huining County Political and Judiciary Committee and 610 Office agents, on the one hand, ordered the procuratorate to submit the files to the court, and at the same time exerted pressure on the court; on the other hand, they brought false accusations against the Beijing lawyer to the Beijing Bureau of Justice in an attempt to prevent the lawyer from continuing to help the victims. Huining County 610 Office head Kang Yingxiang and others also deceived and threatened the practitioners' family members, saying that if they hired lawyers from Beijing, the court would definitely give the practitioners lengthy prison terms. As a result, Ms. Han's family didn't dare to continue retaining the lawyer from Beijing.

At the same time, Kang Yingxiang coerced a local lawyer surnamed Zhang to deceive Mr. He Yuhu's wife into signing a retaining agreement, and then this lawyer and Mr. He's wife went to the detention center to meet with Mr. He. Zhang deceived and threatened Mr. He's wife not to hire a Beijing lawyer, and told her that she should let Mr. He first admit that his guilt, and then he [Lawyer Zhang] could help him to plead “not guilty.” When lawyer Zhang's tricks were uncovered, he claimed that Kang Yingxiang coerced him to do it and that he acted against his will.