(Minghui.org) Practitioners in my area read a Chinese article on Minghui, “Clarifying the Truth through Administrative Reconsideration and Litigation,” which encouraged us to rescue detained practitioners using the law. We only focused on completing the rescues themselves at first, but we later realized that the process should also involve validating Dafa and clarifying the truth to police and judicial personnel. We changed from being passive to active and successfully helped in the rescue of many practitioners. This also helped some of their family members to understand Dafa and make the right choices.
In this process of solid cultivation, a few of us Dafa practitioners have walked our own paths and sought to rectify ourselves by forming one body despite interference.
Promptly Contacting Arrested Practitioners’ Family Members
After a local practitioner was arrested, the first practitioner to find out immediately notified others through email. One practitioner promptly contacted the arrested practitioner’s family members and encouraged them to go to the police station to clarify the facts to the police officers and ask for his or her release.
The officers used to avoid family members to evade responsibility, but after we learned the law of “administrative reconsideration and litigation,” we wrote and mailed the necessary legal documents to the police stations. In the documents, we stressed that it was illegal to force a citizen to renounce his or her belief and that the officers would be held responsible in the near future.
The most difficult part of the process is communication with family members. One practitioner saw that the address of an arrested practitioner was in a remote area. He traversed the area by foot, asked for directions using the practitioner’s name, and walked for so long that he had blisters on his feet.
He finally found the practitioner’s elderly parents, who were in their 70s or 80s and did not know that their son had been arrested again. They were saddened by the news but felt helpless. The practitioner told them that their son had done nothing wrong and asked if they had contacted any government agencies to request the release of their son.
The couple gave him the telephone number of their other son, who also worked in the city. They also gave him their IDs, which were needed to hire a lawyer. The lawyer visited the arrested practitioner in the detention center, who was encouraged when he learned that other practitioners were reinforcing him with righteous thoughts.
Next, the practitioner assigned to the rescue met with the arrested practitioner’s brother and returned his parents’ IDs. The brother thought the practitioner was trying to defraud him with stolen IDs and wanted to call the police. Once he found out about his brother’s arrest, learned more about Falun Dafa, and understood that the person visiting him only wanted to help his brother and did not want any money, he changed. The practitioner also told the brother that they had hired a lawyer to defend the arrested practitioner and showed him the plea they had written. The brother was moved and said, “I never expected there are still such good people like you in today’s society!”
After another practitioner was arrested, the assigned practitioner went to meet with her daughter. Her daughter was a new practitioner and had a limited understanding of Dafa. She asked, “Some practitioners have the attachment of fear and never dare to clarify the truth. My mother diligently clarifies the truth every day. Why was she still arrested?”
The practitioner said, “Cultivation practice is like this. There must be reasons why your mother was arrested. But no matter what, if your mother can find her fundamental attachment and negate the persecution entirely, she will be released. You shouldn’t be affected. Just go to the police station and request the release of your mother in a dignified manner.” The daughter and other family members went to the police station twice to clarify the truth and to request the release of her mother.
When we tell family members of arrested practitioners about Dafa, some of them can understand, but some cannot. More and more of them have come to understand as the respective practitioner had cultivated solidly and clarifying the truth to them with a merciful heart. They realized that Falun Gong practitioners had not broken any laws and that it was the police who was violating the law.
Most importantly, when arrested practitioners learn that fellow practitioners were working to rescue them, they felt greatly relieved and encouraged.
Communicating with Detained Practitioners
As for detained practitioners, we did not look for their attachments but instead reminded them to look inward and try to improve based on the Fa. Separated from the cultivation environment, what they needed most was encouragement and help from fellow practitioners.
We previously hired lawyers from other cities, but they were expensive. We had to pay 10,000 yuan for every visit. Furthermore, they were very busy, didn’t often meet with the detained practitioners, and hurried in and out when they did.
We found a few good lawyers in our local area who were far less costly. They charged 500 yuan for every meeting with detained practitioners. Moreover, as we had clarified the truth to them, they helped us deliver letters to the practitioners in detention. Those letters greatly helped the practitioners in tribulations.
Using the Law to Clarify the Truth
We used to rely on lawyers in the rescue of detained practitioners because we didn’t have enough knowledge of the law. Therefore, the effect was not very good when we clarified the truth to police officers, prosecutors and judges. Now, we write the legal documents, and they differ from the ones written by everyday lawyers in the following ways.
1) Timeliness
We immediately wrote and submitted legal documents after each arrest because it allowed us to make known our main points in the rescue of the detained practitioner and also clarified the truth to the relevant parties for the first time. We used the format of legal documents submitted by everyday lawyers, but we focused on the content on truth-clarification.
2) Striking Awe
In one case, police officers delivered the file of a detained practitioner to the procuratorate after the practitioner’s family members clarified the truth to them repeatedly. The family members then took the legal document we wrote to appeal to the procuratorate. The procuratorate staff didn’t show much interest, so we immediately completed the appeals letter in writing. The procuratorate staff changed their attitude at once. The family members continued to clarify the truth to the staff. Finally, the court released the practitioner without a trial.
3) Continued Monitoring of Detained Practitioners
A practitioner in detention was put under “strict control” and denied family visits. In order to restrain the persecution, we clarified the facts to the warden and other supervisors based on the Prison Law, Criminal Law, the Constitution, and others. We pointed out that individuals in prison still have their right to freedom of belief. Our report shocked the police officers who were engaged in the wrongdoing.
4) We Could Protect Practitioners’ Rights and Reach a Wider Audience
Master said, “There are ordinary laws in place in this world to regulate human affairs, which is as it should be.” (The Ninth Talk, Zhuan Falun)
However, after the many political campaigns launched by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), most Chinese people do not have an understanding of human rights and the law. When we use legal knowledge to educate them, it can open up their hearts, which is good for truth-clarification and protecting the rights of practitioners.
An elderly practitioner was arrested when she put up stickers about the persecution. At the police station, officers ordered her to sit on an “iron chair.” She refused and said, “I am not a criminal. I am not guilty. You have no right to force me to sit there. If you say I have broken the law, please tell me which law I have violated.” The officers could not respond. Legally, officers must be able to quote the law a subject of arrest has breached; if they can’t, they are abusing their power. Under Master’s protection and the reinforcement of other practitioners’ righteous thoughts, that practitioner was released the same day.
We are not emphasizing the importance of laws promulgated by the CCP. Rather, we believe that practitioners need to have some legal knowledge and to use it when needed. It also ensures that practitioners know that they do not break any laws when practicing Falun Dafa and when they clarify the truth. This prevents them from feeling guilty and strengthens their righteous thoughts
We can educate police officers who follow former Communist Party leader Jiang Zemin to participate in the persecution. They need to understand that even Jiang Zemin has no right to hinder or make the law, nor can he incriminate Falun Gong.
We can explain that Jiang Zemin only issued verbal orders in the persecution of Falun Gong to evade future responsibility in the future, at which point those who carried out his orders will serve as scapegoats. We can have them look at the cases of Nazi human rights criminals, who are still taken to court in wheelchairs even in their 90s. We can therefore persuade them not to become accomplices of the CCP.
We sincerely appreciate the effort of fellow practitioners at Minghui who compile and publish the legal brochures. It greatly helped us in our truth-clarification to the staff at police stations, procuratorate and the courts. Some of them decided not to participate in the persecution anymore after they read our defense pleadings, letters of appeal, and complaints.
Looking Inward to Evaluate Cooperation as One Body
During these years of rescuing persecuted practitioners, we continue to cultivate ourselves solidly, look within for shortcomings, and share our understandings based on the Fa when we have disagreements.
Rectifying Our Starting Point and Cultivating Compassion
When practitioners close to us are persecuted, we can easily develop hatred and treat the police and judicial officials as enemies. We have to remind ourselves that they were indoctrinated and thus became victims of the persecution as well.
Master said,
“Compassion is an enormous energy, the energy of righteous gods. The more compassion that is present, the greater this energy becomes, and it can disintegrate anything that is bad.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2009 Washington DC International Fa Conference”, Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. IX)
“The greatest manifestation of shan is compassion, and it is an expression of tremendous energy.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2009 Washington DC International Fa Conference”, Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. IX)
One practitioner said that when he wrote legal documents, he always imagined a police officer standing in front of him and listening to his explanation. He also issued a thought in this process, “Whoever reads this document will understand the truth.”
A family member of a detained practitioner used to disagree with this practitioner. She did not appreciate his truth-clarification and did not understand him after he was arrested. But after she carefully read the legal document we wrote, she said in surprise, “I never knew it’s not illegal to practice Falun Gong!” Her change also greatly encouraged the detained practitioner.
Not Being Attached to the Result
In the process of rescuing practitioners, we do not get attached to whether someone can be freed. But this doesn’t mean that we don’t want them to be freed. Actually, the purer our mind is and the fewer attachments we have, the better the result.
One detained practitioner’s family members read our legal document and understood that it was their right to defend the practitioner as family members. Then, they repeatedly talked to the relevant police officers, prosecutors and judges.
In addition, the detained practitioner knew the applicable laws, refused to plead guilty, and continued to clarify the truth. The court dared not inform his family members and held a secret trial to sentence the practitioner to prison. We told the family members to continue to visit the court and other departments to seek his release, and the practitioner was eventually released.
With No Attachment to Law, Writing Legal Documents is Also a Process of Solid Cultivation
At the beginning of our rescue project, a practitioner knowledgeable in applicable laws held an attachment to the law and thought that we only have to cite the correct laws for detained practitioners to be released. However, after discussion, he realized that only by placing the truth of Dafa above all else can we achieve the best result.
Sometimes we disagree on some issues, such as whether to sue police officers and whether that constitutes a lack of compassion. We always share understandings based on the Fa to find the best solution. One practitioner is very cautious and always reminds us not to deviate from the Fa. Another practitioner always shows great patience when faced with xinxing interference, and he diligently participates in rescues although he is also involved in other projects. A young practitioner has an everyday job and doesn’t have time to do many concrete things in this project, but when we have prolonged arguments, his understandings of the Fa inspire us and remind us that we are cultivating rather than doing things.
