(Minghui.org) Ms. Liu Chunlan, 66, and Ms. Han Xiufang, 67, were illegally arrested on November 2, 2012 at Mudanjiang City Train Station by officer Yang Danbei from the Domestic Security Division of the Mudanjiang Police Station, officer Liu Zhigang from the Huadian Police Branch and an officer from the Xianfeng Police Branch. Ms. Liu and Ms. Han have now been detained for over five months. A court session was due to be held at the Aimin District Court in Mudanjiang on April 2, 2013, and both families each hired a lawyer to represent them in court.
Prevented from seeing client
One of the practitioner's lawyers went to the Aimin District Court at 8:30 a.m. on April 1 to read and photocopy the case files. However, the court staff only allowed him to read the files.
The lawyer went to the detention center in the afternoon to meet with his client. The guards there initially refused to let him in, claiming that it was a local regulation that if practitioners are to be represented by more than one lawyer in a case, then the lawyers must come together to see their clients. That meant that both Ms. Liu's and Ms. Han’s lawyers must come to the detention center together. The lawyer demanded to talk to the warden, stating that this stipulation was unlawful. The guards could not provide legal grounds for this and finally allowed the lawyer to meet with his client.
Ms. Liu told the lawyer that she was prohibited from reading any Falun Gong books or practicing the exercises in detention. She had become very healthy after practicing Falun Gong and had not had to take any medicine for over ten years. But in the harsh environment of the detention center her blood pressure rose to a dangerous level, and the guards forced her to take drugs to reduce her blood pressure. She felt very uncomfortable and dizzy after being force-fed the drugs, and told the guards not to force-feed her. However, the warden and prison doctor ignored her request and continued to force-feed her the drugs. When Ms. Liu's family heard about this, they asked officers Yang Danbei and Li Yansong from the Domestic Security Division to consider giving Ms. Liu a physical examination to determine her condition, but they refused.
Ms. Liu and Ms. Han also told the lawyer that Yang Dawei, a man claiming to be from the provincial office, told them that if they did not confess to the allegations put against them, then they definitely wouldn't be released until after the 18th National Congress on November 14, 2012.
Deceived by officials at Aimin District Court
The lawyer received a phone call while he was at the detention center, from someone at the Aimin District Court, informing him that he could now go to the court to make copies of the case files. However, when he got there no one was available to see him. He waited there for the whole day, but still no one came. He then received a phone call notifying him that the trial had been brought forward from 9:00 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. on April 2. Then he received another phone call saying that the trial had been canceled.
On the morning of April 2, the lawyer went to the Aimin District Court again to photocopy the case files, but still no one came to meet with him. The lawyer went there again in the afternoon, and waited for nearly two hours before he got a response. Again, he was told that he could only read the files, but couldn't photocopy them. The lawyer had never encountered anything like this before. How could someone possibly hand copy so many documents? The lawyer said, “We can't hand copy these files, as a handwritten copy can't be used in court for defense.” The lawyer then went to other government departments to complain about the court's violation of the law. However, he was not able to meet with the person in charge, as they were said to be either out of the office or in a meeting.
Stopped by court police
The lawyer went to the Aimin District Court on the morning of April 10 to submit more documents for the case. However, the court staff refused to accept them. The lawyer phoned Lu Juncheng, the president of the court, but Lu immediately hung up. The lawyer called him again, and Lu hung up again. After a few times, Lu no longer answered the phone.
When the lawyer attempted to go upstairs to submit the case materials, three members of the court police were called to stop him. The lawyer told them that it's a legal procedure for him to submit the materials, and they were violating the law by trying to stop him. He then asked the police to give their names and show their IDs, but they refused. A female officer had a small video camera pinned on her chest with a voice recorder in her hand to record the lawyer and the defendants' family members.
Secret trial held for Ms. Liu Chunlan and Ms. Han Xiufang
The lawyer was notified by letter on April 9, that the trial was now scheduled for April 11 at the city detention center. He then received a phone call saying that the trial had been canceled as one of the defendants had very high blood pressure.
On the morning of April 11, the lawyer was concerned that the court had misinformed him, so he went to the city detention center and waited there. He checked every office, but found no one there. He then left Mudanjiang City that afternoon.
A secret trial was held on the afternoon of April 11 for Ms. Liu Chunlan and Ms. Han Xiufang.
First court trial rejected by judge
Officials at the Aimin District Court previously held a secret trial in the detention center for Ms. Liu and Ms. Han, along with practitioners Mr. Gong Chengge and Mr. Sun Fa, on February 4, 2013. The case was framed in such a way that it was rejected by the court and the case was returned to the Domestic Security Division of the Aimin District Police Station. Yang Danbei then instructed Li Yansong to continue to fabricate evidence to sentence Ms. Han and Ms. Liu. They sent the materials to the Public Prosecution Section of the Aimin District Procuratorate and collaborated with the Aimin District Court to try them again.