(Minghui.org) Editor's note: Below is the story of an upright judge in a provincial capital city in China. She started practicing Falun Dafa in June 1995. Since the nationwide persecution began in July 1999, she resisted pressure from the authorities and her superiors to appear on TV and renounce Falun Dafa. Instead, she persevered in informing the public about Falun Dafa and the persecution despite the pressure, as well as multiple arrests and imprisonment.
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Policemen Moved to Tears
Many volunteer assistants of Falun Dafa practice sites across the country were arrested overnight when the nationwide persecution began on July 20, 1999.
Practitioners in my city went to the provincial government to appeal for the release of the detained assistants on July 22, 1999, upon hearing the news. We were dispersed by armed police and policemen and taken to a local school, park, or stadium for registration and investigation. I was placed under house arrest in a hotel room for three days. Two police officers were assigned to watch me.
I introduced Falun Dafa to them and shared my stories: “I dealt with a real estate case in 1988. The plaintiff was a small business owner, who filed a lawsuit against the provincial Architectural Design Institute. The plaintiff was not at fault, but lost the case in the first two rounds of trials. He appealed to the provincial court and I took charge of the case.
“During the trial period, he brought a bag of money to my residence to bribe me. I told him, 'I will judge the case fairly. I never accept a penny from anyone in any case that I handle. Please take your money back.' He was visibly moved, and left with his money.
“Next day, I went to the grocery store with my four-year-old son. He asked me to buy some bananas for him, but I told him, 'No.' He cried, 'You say you cannot afford it, but you did not accept the money that the man offered you yesterday.' I explained to him, 'We cannot accept other people's money. He offered me money in order to win the case. Mom's salary is limited. You cannot always get whatever you want.'”
I also told the two policemen that I came to understand the principle of “no loss, no gain” as a result of practicing Falun Dafa.
Some of the cases I judged after I began practicing Falun Dafa were very tough ones. The involved parties offered me cars, or even condominiums. I didn't accept any bribes. Once, both parties in a case invited my supervisors to dinner and told them: “Our cases didn't get resolved two years after other judges took our money, but she finished the case in one month and didn't even take anything from us. Such good judges are so rare nowadays!”
The two policemen were moved after listening to my story. One said with tears in his eyes, “Falun Dafa is great. I want to learn it. Do you have the book Zhuan Falun with you? I would like to read it.” The other said, “I don't believe the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It's the biggest evil religion!” I was very happy for them for understanding the truth.
I was transferred to the city detention center later and released on the sixth day.
Refusing to Renounce Falun Dafa on TV
After I returned home from the detention center, the deputy chief of the Public Security Bureau in my city asked me to go on TV and state that I had stopped practicing Falun Dafa. I refused, “There is nothing wrong with practicing Falun Dafa. I would never betray Master Li and my belief. It is impossible for me to get on TV and deceive the public.”
My supervisor asked me to write a repentance statement after I returned to work. Instead, I wrote about the goodness and the miracles of Falun Dafa. The President of the Court read my statement at a meeting of officials in the court system. I could tell that my statement resonated with the attendees from the way they listened intently and nodded in agreement.
Because I was a judge, TV reporters came to interview me again and attempted to shoot video footage of me. I told them, “I won't give up practicing Falun Dafa. Nothing can change my mind. Nothing is more important to me.” For the second time, I resisted the pressure and prevailed against the CCP's effort to use me to deceive the public.
An upper level provincial official later told my supervisors, “Ask her to say on TV that she will quit practicing Falun Dafa.” My supervisor came to talk with me. I said, “My practicing Falun Dafa is a legitimate right and activity, and I want nothing to do with being on TV to spread their lies. Please tell him [the upper level provincial official] to abandon any thoughts of obtaining a promotion through forcing me to do such a bad thing. You can tell him my exact words. I will speak to him in person if he insists on asking me to appear on TV.” Seeing my determination, this provincial official gave up the plan.
I was later asked to join a meeting of provincial departments, which was organized to criticize Falun Dafa. This took place after former head of the CCP Jiang Zemin slandered Falun Dafa and called the practice a cult on October 25, 1999, and People's Daily issued an editorial promoting the persecution.
The meeting moderator asked me to speak at the meeting, but I refused. He approached me three times with this request. I immediately refused each time. I would have used the opportunity to explain the facts about Falun Dafa, but I knew this CCP trick too well. If I spoke, my voice recording and video footage could be edited and used to slander the practice.
Imprisoned for Upholding My Belief
I went to Beijing in mid-December 2000 with fellow practitioners to appeal for Falun Dafa. We unfurled banners that read “Falun Dafa Is Great” and shouted “Falun Dafa is great,” “Falun Dafa is righteous,” and “Restore Master Li's reputation” on Tiananmen Square.
As a result, I was arrested and taken to the Tiananmen Square Police Station. Many fellow practitioners were already detained there. I was taken back to a local detention center two days later. I was detained for three months without due process. Upon being released, I was taken to a brainwashing session held in a provincial drug rehabilitation center and detained there for another one and a half months.
On my way to a fellow practitioner's home in 2002, I was again arrested by the police. I was detained in the city detention center. My work supervisor and family were asked to talk to me and get me to renounce the practice as a pre-condition of my release.
I said to them, “I have not done anything against the law. I am a victim of the persecution, which violates the Constitution.”
My supervisor suggested, “If you won't write the guarantee statement promising to stop practicing Falun Dafa, stating that you will not participate in Falun Dafa activities would also work.”
I replied, “I don't need to promise anything, as I have broken no law.” I was given three days to think it over, but I did not compromise. The district court then sentenced me to two years in prison. The sentence was upheld by the intermediate court.
By that time, I had been detained for almost one year. I was transferred to the provincial women's prison for the second year of my sentence.
The week before my release in 2004, prison guards told my family that the provincial 610 Office must be present at the time of release. I argued that my going home had nothing to do with the 610 Office and that prison law doesn't stipulate any jurisdiction of the 610 Office on releases. Eventually I managed to leave with my family without the intervention of the 610 Office, which oftentimes takes practitioners directly to brainwashing centers upon their release or continues to harass them at home.
I later learned that my employment was terminated at the end of 2004 because I refused to give up my belief. I thus lost my source of income.
I went to the provincial 610 Office in 2007 and 2009 and asked the director why he did not reinstate my job. He replied, “It's impossible to get your job back if you do not give up your belief. You need to declare on TV that you will not practice Falun Dafa. Video footage is needed so that everyone will know.”
I responded, “The persecution of Falun Dafa has no legal basis. You have tried to force me many times to give up my belief and defame Dafa on TV. This is futile, so please give up on this idea. You know that Falun Dafa is great and Falun Dafa practitioners are good people. You are doing this job against your own conscience because of greed and personal gain. You are being irresponsible for your life.” He thought for quite a while in silence and then said, “Don't come here again. I'm going to quit this job.”
