College Teacher Illegally Tried, Friends and Family Protest
Name: Liu Ronghua (刘荣华)
Gender: Female
Age: 47
Address: Dalian, Liaoning Province
Occupation: Teacher
Date of Most Recent Arrest: September 23, 2009
Most recent place of detention: Masanjia Women's Forced Labor Camp (马三家劳教所)
City: Shenyang
Province: Liaoning
Persecution Suffered: Detention, forced labor, fired from workplace, interrogation, strikes to the face, stretched and hung up, brainwashing, forced labor, beatings, denied visitation.
(Clearwisdom.net) At 9:30 a.m. on January 9, 2012, the Zhongshan District Court in Dalian City, Liaoning Province held a trial against Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Liu Ronghua. Ms. Liu's family hired two attorneys from outside the area to defend her. The attorneys pointed out that this was a case that violated Ms. Liu's basic civil rights and also violated double jeopardy laws. The trial ended at 11:30 a.m. without the court announcing judgment. Due to interference from Chinese Communist Party (CCP) authorities, Liu Ronghua's friends and family were not permitted to attend the court hearing. Only her over-80-year-old parents were allowed in the court.
When Ms. Liu was escorted out of the court, a relative shouted, “Liu Ronghua is innocent! Release Liu Ronghua immediately! Punishing someone twice for the same charge is a violation of the law.” Her other relatives and friends also shouted, “Belief is not a crime. Believing in Falun Gong is not a crime.” Liu Ronghua's parents also shouted, “Our daughter is innocent. Our daughter is a good person. You detained our daughter. You are breaking the law.” When Ms. Liu was forcibly dragged to the police vehicle, her friends and family shouted, “Liu Ronghua did not break the law. She is innocent. Release her unconditionally.” Many passers-by stopped to watch, and Ms. Liu's friends and family told them what was happening.
Liu Ronghua
Liu Ronghua is a former teacher and associate professor at Dalian Fisheries College. One of her articles was published in the Encyclopedia of China. She is a kind person and always thinks of others. But because she believes in Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance and practices Falun Gong, she has been harassed and abused by the CCP many times.
Sentenced to Forced Labor and Tortured, Including Multiple Times with “Stretching” Torture
In September 2009, Liu Ronghua was arrested by police from the Qingniwa Bridge Police Station. She was sentenced to forced labor for two years and was detained and abused at Masanjia Women's Forced Labor Camp. Because she refused to give up her belief, she was tortured many times with various methods, including the “stretching” torture, which caused symptoms of heart disease. She had to be sent to the hospital for emergency treatment. The doctor said that if she had delayed coming to the hospital for two more days, she would have died.
Ms. Liu was also brutally beaten, which caused her to not be able to drink. Her lips turned black and blue and she could hardly walk. Although Ms. Liu was extremely weak due to the abuse, the police forced her to climb up and down flights of stairs in order to torture her further. They extended her forced labor term because on one occasion she did not say hello to the team leader while returning to the prison cell.
Liu Ronghua was made to continue performing forced labor, even though she could not walk anymore. Under the brutal physical and mental persecution, she suffered multiple heart attacks. Ms. Liu was slightly overweight before the persecution, but the prolonged abuse made her very thin and weak.
CCP Attempts to Sentence Ms. Liu Again after Forced Labor Term Finishes
In September 2011, a few days before Liu Ronghua's forced labor term was due to finish, the Dalian City 610 Office ordered officers from the Taoyuanjie Police Station in Zhongshan District to transfer Ms. Liu from Masanjia Forced Labor Camp to the Yaojia Detention Center in Dalian, where she remained imprisoned. The CCP authorities were intending to sentence her again.
In order to rescue Ms. Liu, her elderly parents walked around to appeal for her despite their poor health. Liu Ronghua's 16-year-old son, who had just started high school, also wrote an appeal letter to ask people to help his mother and to let them be reunited as soon as possible. But the head of the Taoyuanjie Police Station, Li Litian, threatened Ms. Liu's mother saying that if she came to the police station again, she would tell the Procuratorate and court to persecute Liu Ronghua even harder.
At around 7:00 p.m. on December 25, 2011 (Sunday), Liu Ronghua's mother received a phone call from the Zhongshan District Court notifying her that the court was holding a public trial for Ms. Liu at 9:30 a.m. the next morning, December 26. Her family members still had not found attorneys to represent her. The local lawyers in Dalian City were afraid of the Chinese Communist Party and said they would only present a guilty defense.
Due to the urgency, Liu Ronghua's mother, with her relatives and friends went to the Zhongshan District Court on the morning of December 26 and asked to have the trial delayed so that they could find an attorney to make a not-guilty plea. The trial was postponed, and court officials told her that the date for the trial would be three days later, on December 30. In order to have time to hire the attorney, Ms. Liu's mother temporarily hired an attorney from the Zhongshan Law Firm who negotiated to have the trial date postponed to January 9, 2012.
Under her family’s and friends' efforts, two attorneys were hired from outside the area who were willing to make an innocent plea on behalf of Liu Ronghua. The attorneys requested the court to postpone the trial date so that they could have sufficient time to review the case. The court wanted to have the case completed as soon as possible so they did not allow any further postponement.
Trial Ends Abruptly
At around 2:00 p.m. on January 8 (Sunday), Liu Ronghua's father received a phone call from the Zhongshan District Court notifying him that Ms. Liu’s public trial was scheduled for 9:00 a.m. on January 9 (the next day). There was very limited time to arrange for the attorneys to make the necessary arrangements. One of the attorneys had recently had his certificate confiscated by the CCP so he could only appear in court as a relative. The second attorney couldn’t arrive in Dalian City until 5:30 p.m. on January 8 and so had no time to go to the court to meet the related personnel and handle the related procedures before the trial proceedings the next morning.
On the morning of January 9, the two attorneys and Liu Ronghua's family and friends arrived at the Zhongshan District Court. The attorneys went to handle the related procedures but a female official and male court police officer who were on duty tried to make it difficult for them. The attorneys argued based on the law and finally were given permission to process the procedures.
Ms. Liu’s relatives and friends waited anxiously for her and finally she appeared at the courthouse. She had been brutally persecuted at the detention center after going on a hunger strike, and she looked very thin, weighing only 80 to 90 pounds. She held onto the stair rail with both hands handcuffed and slowly made her way to the third floor. She had to rest every few steps due to her weak condition. Her relatives and friends all went to the third floor wanting to enter the court, but their legal rights were deprived. Only Liu Ronghua's parents were allowed to attend the hearing.
At around 9:30 a.m., the trial began. Wang Jichao, the public persecutor, read the charges. The two attorneys made an innocent plea on behalf of Liu Ronghua. They pointed out that this case violated the double jeopardy laws, i.e., Liu Ronghua did not commit any crime while she was imprisoned at the forced labor camp, and the public persecutor’s so-called evidence was the same as that used by the Dalian City Police Department when they sentenced Liu Ronghua to the forced labor camp in September 2009. The attorneys pointed out that in effect, it was not Liu Ronghua who had broken the law, but the law administrators and court officials were in breach of the law.
The court officials could not refute information provided by the attorneys. But as has been the case with Falun Gong practitioners, the public persecutor ignored the facts and the law and insisted on helping the CCP in proceeding with what was essentially a show-trial. However, because of practitioners’ continuous fight against the persecution from all around the world over the past twelve years, more and more people have come to understand the truth about the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong. Before the public persecutor finished, the people and officials who had been prearranged to sit in the court for audit purposes had all left. At around 11:30 a.m., the trial ended abruptly.
During the trial, the CCP authorities were afraid of being exposed, so they attempted to interfere with the legal process. The courtroom on the third floor of the Zhongshan District Court is specifically used for trials against Falun Gong practitioners. The courtroom used for trials against other Chinese citizens is situated on the first floor. The court officials intentionally told Liu Ronghua's relatives and friends that the court was on the first floor. When her relatives and friends requested to attend the trial, the court staff barred the door and two officials guarded the door. When the relatives and friends asked, “Isn't this a public trial? Why are you stopping us from attending the trial?” an official lied and said that there were no seats left, when there were actually many. They then asked if they could stand or sit on the floor, but their request was denied.
Liu Ronghua's husband, Yin Baojun, was also arrested in June 2011 for practicing Falun Gong. He was sentenced to two years' forced labor and was imprisoned at Dalian City Forced Labor Camp. Yin Baojin was brutally persecuted and showed symptoms of brain damage. He was released on bail for medical treatment on December 23, 2011.
Individuals who have participated in the persecution of Liu Ronghua:
Chen Xin, director of the Dalian Domestic Security Division
Jiang Chaoming, head of the Zhongshan District Police Department
Li Litian and Liu Yansong (in charge of Liu Ronghua's case), chief of the Taoyuanjie Police Station in Zhongshan District
Yu, head of the Arresting Approval Section, Zhongshan District Procuratorate
Wang Jichao, Zhongshan District Procuratorate
Bi Fengyou, chief justice of Zhongshan District Court
Jiang Xiaohong, presiding judge of Zhongshan District Court: +86-411- 82802280 +86-411-82639875 (Fax)
Related articles:
Ms. Liu Ronghua Sentenced to Two Years of Forced Labor (Photo)
College Instructor Ms. Liu Ronghua Isolated and Tortured in Masanjia Women's Forced Labor Camp