(Minghui.org) After Falun Dafa practitioners Mr. Chen Deguang and his wife Ms. Sheng Chunmei were each sentenced to nine years in prison by a lower court, they appealed to an intermediate court, which upheld their sentences without holding a trial, a clear violation of China's Code of Criminal Law.
The Criminal Law code stipulates that all appellate cases must be heard during a court session. Lanzhou City Intermediate Court judge Shao Junmei upheld the original sentences without holding a trial. He refused to listen to the arguments submitted by the couple's attorney and representatives.
Huazhuang Police Station officers arrested the couple because they were distributing DVDs of U.S.-based Shen Yun Performing Arts in Huazhuang Township in the Honggu District in Lanzhou City, Gansu Province. Despite the couple pleading not guilty, the lower court sentenced them to nine years, which they appealed immediately.
Legal Procedures Ignored Throughout
After the couple's children won the right to represent their parents, they examined the case files and found many examples where process, as required under Chinese Criminal Law, was ignored.
1. The police did not show a search warrant when they ransacked Mr. Chen's home.
2. No family member was present during the search. Instead, Zhang Donghong, the neighborhood director, signed the paperwork as a witness. As an agent of the authorities, however, he was not impartial as required under Criminal Law.
3. Information about a 40-minute period during Mr. Chen's interrogation was missing.
Mr. Chen stated that officer Zhang Guowei beat him during that time. Ms. Sheng corroborated this assertion because she was next door and heard what was going on.
4. Ms. Sheng's interrogation record, which was prepared the Yintan Police Station in the Anning District, was not signed.
5. The claim that the materials seized from Mr. Chen's home were "illegal" was based on an assessment made by the Cult Investigation Division of the Lanzhou City Police Department. This is not an independent organization as required by law.
Earlier report:
Chen Deguang and His Wife Sheng Chunmei Illegally Sentenced to Nine-Year Prison Terms
