(Minghui.org) Villagers have stood together to show their support for Ms. Feng Wenzheng and her husband by collecting over 1,900 signatures requesting her release from prison.
Ms. Feng, 55, is a farmer and Falun Gong practitioner in Li County, Hebei Province. Chinese Communist Party (CCP) agents arrested her on September 19, 2007, for telling people the facts about Falun Gong. She was sentenced, based on fabricated evidence, to seven years in prison. Her husband and child have suffered in her absence.
Villagers from Ms. Feng's hometown are sympathetic to the situation, and started a petition drive to try to secure her release. The number of signatures collected has now reached over 1,900.
Ms. Feng Wenzheng
1,900 people signed a petition on behalf of Ms. Feng
Arrest and Sentencing
Ms. Feng and two other practitioners, Ms. Cui Shumei, and Ms. Cui Xiaoxian, were arrested for telling people the facts about Falun Gong on September 19, 2007. Dozens of officers including Wang Junchang, the captain of the Li County Domestic Security Division, and officers from the police department, ransacked their homes that day. The police, who did not have a search warrant, wore helmets, blocked off the streets, and proceeded to vandalize the practitioners' homes. They seized a TV set, a DVD player, and 1,000 yuan in cash.
Party Officials and 610 Office Disregard the Law
Lu Kunli, the Li County Party director; Ning Hongmao, the deputy Party director; Ma Yimin, the Political and Legal Affairs Committee director; and Zhang Yuexian, the head of the 610 Office, put themselves above the law and the Constitution by directing the police department, the Procuratorate, the court, and the Baoding Superior Court to sentence Ms. Cui Xiaoxian and Ms. Cui Shuimei to three years in prison, and Ms. Feng to seven years. They were charged with, “Using a heretical organization to undermine the implementation of law,” and taken to Shijiazhuang Women's Prison.
Ms. Cui Xiaoxian and Ms. Cui Shumei are now back at home, but Ms. Feng is still incarcerated. Her husband and their child have been on their own for a long time now and are not doing well.
Judicial System Fabricates Evidence
Much of the evidence collected by the prosecution was erroneous, forged, and inconsistent with the facts. Two trials were held, the first on November 24, 2007, and the second on December 24, 2007.
Some of the discrepancies:
- The police never produced a search warrant when Ms. Feng's house was ransacked. During the November trial, the police showed the court “Li County Search Warrant No. 38,” which the defense had never before seen.
- The photos submitted by the police were not of Ms. Feng's home. Although the photos were of a ransacked home, they had the wrong date (May 2008 instead of September 2007) and location, and the floor was wrong.
The ransacked home of Ms. Feng. (Notice the concrete floor. The photos submitted by the police as evidence showed a tile floor.)
- Cheng Yongbo from Huagang Village, Li County allegedly reported the practitioners to the Li County Domestic Security Division. When the defense attorneys and the Huagang Village Committee investigated, they found no such person.
- Other "witnesses" were actually participants in the ransacking. The Domestic Security Division called deputy chief Guo Hui, the 610 Office deputy head, Xu Yonggang, and another 610 Office employee, Cui Xinjun, to give testimony on the ransacking of Ms. Feng's home. Since they had participated in the ransacking, their testimony would have been biased.
- A list of confiscated items was not issued when the police ransacked the homes of Ms. Cui Shumei and Ms. Feng. The police confiscated books and empty DVD cases from Ms. Cui Xiaoxian's home. The items were put in two plastic bags, recorded, and her husband signed for them. But the list presented to the court included 370 DVDs, 50 boxes of tapes, 30 copies of Minghui Weekly, 5 copies of lectures by the founder of Falun Gong, 7 copies of Zhuan Falun, 247 fliers, and 100 copies of Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party. The family demanded that the court produce the original list with their signatures, but the court was not able to do so.
- Ms. Cui Xiaoxian, Ms. Cui Shumei, and Ms. Feng were interrogated five times, but the paper records failed to show the signatures of either the interrogators or the practitioners. Yet interrogation "records" were presented to the court as evidence. This was a violation of Regulation No. 57 of the procedures of criminal cases used by the National Police Department.
- The prosecutor altered the evidence presented to the court during the trial. He said that he had made a mistake about the number of DVDs confiscated from Ms. Cui's home, and changed it from 370 to 317 during the trial.
There has never been a recorded case of a prosecutor altering evidence during a trial. Why then? A practitioner asked the judge, “Why did you rule that way?” The judge said, “It does not matter how we rule on these cases. They have already been decided.”
When practitioners tell people the facts about Falun Gong, they are exercising their freedom of speech, which is protected by the Constitution. They are also upholding the public's right to know. Making and distributing informational materials is not a crime. The evidence only helped to show that the practitioners were not guilty of any crimes, and the judicial system's blatant disregard for the rule of law.
Defense Stumps Judge and Prosecutor
It was decided at a secret meeting on December 21, 2007, to change the trial date from December 26, 2007, to December 24, 2007, and make it a closed session. The court wanted to sentence the three practitioners secretly and have them taken away without anyone knowing about it.
The families were not notified of the trial beforehand, and the court was caught off-guard when defense attorneys showed up. When the attorneys requested copies of the files, police officers were called to the courtroom to intervene. The court claimed that the copy machine was broken and declined the attorney's request to bring a printer to the courthouse and make copies themselves. The court knew that the files were full of errors and forgeries, and did not want them to be used as evidence against the court. The attorneys demanded that the court let them hand-copy some of the files and they finally did. Numerous errors and gaps were found in the reports.
The first trial began at 9:30 a.m. on December 24, 2007. The three practitioners immediately objected after the prosecutor's opening statements. They said, “The evidence submitted to the court by the prosecution has been forged. We follow the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and try to be good people. We have done nothing wrong. We should be immediately and unconditionally released.”
The attorneys then began their arguments and everyone listened intently. The presiding judge kept nodding his head. The police department had mixed up the dates of the ransacking and the quantity of the items seized, so the prosecutor was confused and could not make sense of the files. When the judge asked Ma Yonggui, head prosecutor, what was going on, he didn't know what to say. In a trembling voice as he kept flipping pages he said, “What happened? Why?”
The trail lasted until about noon. The judges had no reply to the defense. Some of them showed noticeable respect for the defense attorney and the practitioners. The presiding judge called an adjournment.
Background on Ms. Feng
Ms. Feng was born in Nanguan Village, Chengguan Township, Li County, and was afflicted with both mental and physical ailments. For years she was plagued with a bronchial problem and had trouble breathing, her eyes watered, and her nose ran constantly. When her condition was at its worst, she had to have an IV for days at a time. A thick growth on her feet made walking painful. When she lost one of her sons, she was traumatized, in a daze, and almost collapsed. She developed a bad temper as a result of the loss.
When she began practicing Falun Gong, she regained her health and a pleasant disposition. More importantly, she learned to live by the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Her bad temper improved, and she no longer fought with anyone, as she thought of others first.
People Are Awaking and Calling for Justice
Kindhearted villagers from Nanguan Village have shown their support by petitioning for Ms. Feng's immediate release. The number of signatures collected has now passed 1,900.
Ms. Feng should be released unconditionally now.
Parties Involved in the Persecution:
Zhang Yuexian (张跃贤), Li County 610 Office director: +86-13633228299, +86-312-6211103, +86-312-6215541, +86-312-6235800
Tian Jun (田钧), Li County Party director: +86-312-6232111, +86-312-3035879, +86-13700326666
Li County Police Department: +86-312-6211417, +86-312-6226166, +86-312-6225113, +86-312-6239618
Liu Yannong (刘艳浓), chief, Chengguan Police Station: +86-13903122180
