(Minghui.org) (Continued from Part 1)
Presiding Judge Fell Ill Before the Court Session
I received a notice from the court that my son would be tried on a certain day in 2018, so another practitioner and I made an appointment with the judge.
At the meeting, the judge asked if I had anything to tell him. I said, “We have known each other for a long time, and I have written many letters to you. You know what I am worried about. In fact, my biggest concern is that you will be held accountable if you don't do the right thing. No matter what the outcome is, I hope that you will carefully consider whether to sign the judgment or not.” He immediately said, “If I don't sign it, who would sign? I have to sign.”
He then asked the other practitioner what she thought. She said, “The current policy says that a judge will incur lifelong accountability concerning his judgments. I am also worried that you will be held accountable. The persecution of Falun Gong is a political movement. What will you do after the persecution ends? After every communist movement, the government always found scapegoats. Moreover, it has been several decades, but the German Nazis are still tracked down internationally. You also remember that at the Nuremberg trial, a Nazi-time judge said during a trial: “Although he was not a Nazi, he was more evil than the Nazis, because he knew what they were doing. He chose to help the evil.”
The judge looked serious. He thought for a while and said, “Let's stop for today. Thank you.”
That night, as soon as I got home, my phone rang. It was the county court. They told me that the presiding judge was ill, and I would be notified about the new time for the trial. I knew that the judge was under too much pressure, and gods could see that he is of good quality, so they did not want him to bear the guilt. That is why he got sick, so that he didn't have to be responsible for the outcome of the trial.
Later I learned that the court was going to have a pre-trial meeting, so I made an appointment with the deputy chief in charge of the case. I said to him, “I know that you are a good person. You have postponed this case for so long. I know that you do not want to do this, but I am also worried about you. Now, they have this life-long responsibility system for handling cases, I am worried that you will be held accountable. He said, “You can rest assured that I will handle the case impartially.”
I wished him happiness and peace and then left. When I looked back, he was still standing there and staring at me.
The Pre-trial Meeting
The county court held a pre-trial meeting in 2018, which was attended by all the parties, the court, the prosecutors, and the defense. I attended the meeting as a family defender. Before the prosecution arrived, the presiding judge arranged a meeting for our lawyer, and one practitioner. It was obvious that the judge tried to help us.
The meeting began with deciding on the meeting process. Then, the presiding judge asked the practitioner to be tried if the investigator had interrogated him if he confessed by torture; and if the investigator tried to tempt him. To the first two questions, the answer was no. But the other practitioner said that they set a trap for him. “They said if I admitted what I did, I would not be sentenced,” said my son. The defense lawyer said, “This is a typical lie!” Later, the lawyer also stated that the police arrested the practitioner first and then asked him to sign documents, which was also illegal.
The meeting was over. The presiding judge walked out of the building with me, and said, “I have done my best to help you.” I thanked him.
After the pre-trial meeting, we posted a large number of posters in public places and wrote the letters to the county party secretary, the county magistrate, the political and legal committee, the county disciplinary committee, the public security team, and other related units. More than 100 letters were sent out. The letter described how law enforcement broke the law from the start. We heard that the posters and letters made a big impact on the public.
Clarifying the Truth to the Director of the 610 Office
I tried multiple times to talk to the director of the 610 Office of the county in 2017, who ordered the arrest of my son. He has served the longest in the county's 610 Office – from 2007 to 2017.
The first time I found him in his office, he was at the peak of being evil. When he saw me, he asked what I am doing in his office. Then turned on some app on his cell phone, and I told him that he did not need to record our conversation. He was embarrassed, since I saw through his intention. He turned off the app. I said, “The national security team said that you ordered the arrest of my son. Do not pretend that you don't know what I am doing here.” He admitted that he acted because my son wrote letters.” I asked him if freedom of communication was not constitutional? What law does writing letters break? His response was that I'm against the party! I replied, “The authorities have arrested more than 400 high-ranking officials. They even caught your general commander Zhou Yongkang. Are you higher than their officials? Don't you need to think about your future?”
My words shocked him, and he had nothing further to say. I felt that the words were a bit harsh, so I quickly changed my tone, “We have been neighbors for years. I do care about you. Everybody involved in the persecution is looking for an exiting strategy. You should think about it. After every political movement, the party always got scapegoats.” Upon my leaving, he walked out with me and warned me to be careful.
On the way home, I told myself that my tone today was too harsh, and I didn't have enough compassion. I kept talking to him several times compassionately after that. Gradually, he changed. He promised me that he would talk to the judge about my son's case.
I heard that he quit, and the county got a new chief of the 610 Office in January 2018. I talked to the new chief for two hours. I clarified the truth about Dafa, why Jiang Zemin (the former Party leader) launched the persecution, how widely Dafa has spread in the world, and so on. At the end, he said: “I understand now—Dafa is good, and you are all good people. Tell me what you want me to do.” I said, “You are new. I cannot ask too much. Why don't you spend a little time on my son's case.” He said, “All right, I know what to do.”
I went to his office a few more times. He was happy to see me. I gave him some truth-clarifying materials, and he accepted then. He even came to my home with a few subordinates.
The last time I went to his office, he said, “I have done what I can. I also talked to the officials who are in charge of this case. I said to him that your family is poor, and asked him to be easy on your son as much as possible.”
Play the Leading Role in the Court
For some reason, the court did not have the trial after the pre-trial meeting. I kept writing letters and calling them. They finally decided on a trial date. But, our lawyer ran into trouble. He told me that the Beijing Justice Bureau got involved in this case, and the bureau always tried to prevent him from speaking up for Falun Gong. He suggested that I find an extra lawyer. If he cannot talk in court, then another lawyer can speak up.
Fellow practitioners had different opinions on this issue. Some said we should follow his suggestion, and the others believed that even if we hired a new lawyer, the new one may get interfered with by the bureau too. They asked me to make the decision. I gave a lot of thought, and then made up my mind, “I am a Dafa disciple. Master asked us to play the leading role in saving people. I must speak up in court. If the lawyer cannot speak, I will.”
I told the lawyer my decision. He got mad and told me to replace him with another lawyer. I had no choice and hired the other lawyer. But two days before the trial, the other lawyer told me that the officers from the Beijing Lawyers Association came to his house twice, and threatened him to not to get involved in Falun Gong cases, otherwise his license would be revoked. He asked me to hire the original lawyer. I tried to call the new lawyer once, but he didn't answer my call.
The day before the trial, the presiding judge asked me to meet him in his office. He was worried that I could not get a lawyer. “Shall we proceed,” he asked me. I said yes. He asked, “Can you defend your son?” I assured him without hesitating. He was moved, and said, “To protect your right, let me find another lawyer for you.” I thanked him but said no.
I believed that all these changes were tests for me—do I have the courage to speak at the trial. I was very calm the night before the trial, while reciting the defense speech I wrote.
The first lawyer called me at 5 a.m. on the trial day, as he had decided to take the case, and asked me to meet him at 6 a.m. at the detention center. He spent five hours in the center and got a giant pile of documents that needed to be copied. We found a xerox machine, and only had about two hours to finish the copying before the trial, which was scheduled for 2 p.m. We didn't even have time for lunch. The lawyer read the files while making the copies. We were done around 1 p.m. He didn't have time to write the defense speech. I told myself, “So be it. I just need to do well with what I should do.”
At the trial, I realized that the prosecutors and the police officers made arrangements about the questions and answers in the past. It was obvious that the answers from the police and witnesses were rehearsed. Moreover, their answers directly targeted the practitioners' open letters and posters. Which exposed how the law enforcement broke the laws when dealing with Falun Gong practitioners' cases. At the court, they fabricated a set of lies.
Our lawyer, however, presented hard evidence that showed how the prosecutors and police officers involved in this case broke the law. The police officers could not dispute the facts.
When the debate phase started, I told the lawyer to take a break, and I would speak first. With strong righteous thoughts, I told everybody in the courtroom that Falun Gong is great, and my son is innocent. I asked the prosecutors to show me the law, based on which they sued my son. They were speechless. I also pointed out that it was totally legal for my son to write letters to government officials. I asked them to tell me the law that my son broke by writing letters. The prosecutors were speechless again. Finally I pointed out that it was wrong to accuse my son of repeatedly breaking the law. Their excuse was that my son had been sentenced to 11 years. But, all he did was to tell people what Falun Gong really is. The previous sentence was wrong from the beginning.
With a sad and serious tone, I told the court how the police officers tortured my son, including kicking, slapping, beating with electric batons, locking him up on iron frames with limbs stretched, breaking all his toenails, pouring cold water over him in winter, forcing him to stand straight up for three whole days, electrically shocking his heart, burning him with cigarettes, and so much more. etc. I asked in the court, “All of you are law enforcement. You tell me if the police officers were handling a case, or simply torturing people.”
Finally I asked the court to release my son unconditionally.
Then the lawyer spoke. He had a stack of files in front of him, and read the contents of them one by one. In the end the judge said, “Let's stop here. It is already 8 p.m.” The lawyer stopped after reading one more file.
Neither the lawyer nor I was interrupted when we talked. The prosecutors didn't say a word.
I was told that the court plan was to have a trial and release my son regardless of how the trial goes. They did carry out the plan. After the trial, my son was released.
It is worth mentioning that to save more people, practitioners and I passed out my defense speech in town. Our one-year effort was not wasted. Almost everybody in town learned about Falun Gong and understands that the party's persecution of Falun Gong is illegal.
(The End)
