(Minghui.org) Four years ago, I was arrested by the local police for practicing Falun Dafa. While in the detention center, I refused to wear any uniform or sign the guarantee statements saying I renounced my faith. I also persisted in doing the Falun Dafa exercises, sending righteous thoughts, and reciting Master Li Hongzhi’s article “On Dafa.” During this time, I realized that I could use the law to counteract the persecution and thereby save sentient beings.
A police officer came the next morning and informed us that we would be transferred to another county as this facility didn’t have enough women’s cells. There were more than 20 people on the bus that drove us there. I told the police all about Falun Dafa during the three-hour journey.
On the road, we stopped by a hospital and were each given a physical exam. As my systolic blood pressure read 280 mmHg (the normal range is 120 mmHg or less), the detention center refused to accept me, and I was released on bail.
Suing the Chief of the Domestic Security Bureau
Although I was back home, I was unable to sleep that night. I recalled Master’s words,
“When something has negatively impacted or harmed Dafa, you should also seriously resolve it using everyday people’s laws.” (Teachings Given on Lantern Festival Day, 2003)
The next morning, I downloaded the template for filing a criminal complaint from Minghui.org and filled it out using my real name to sue the chief of the Domestic Security Bureau. I mailed the complaint to nearly 40 government departments and exposed the illegal means the police were using.
A month later, that police officer mentioned above came to my home and wanted to take me into custody. I refused to go with him. The next day, I went with my lawyer to the Domestic Security Bureau and exposed their lie—they said that I put up Falun Dafa posters in their department. The officer did not expect me to bring my lawyer. Nor did he expect that I wasn’t frightened, and instead would sue him.
I said, “Everyone is equal before the law. You didn’t want to listen to the facts about Falun Dafa and used illegal means in your treatment of adherents. I had no choice but to sue you.”
That day, they took me to the hospital for a physical exam and my systolic blood pressure was still 280 mmHg. Again, the detention center refused to accept me and the police had no choice but to send me home.
A month later, the prosecutor from the Procuratorate attempted to indict me. I continued to file complaints and called the authorities to complain about the police arbitrarily arresting me.
Under guidance from the legal experts at the Gongyi (Justice) Forum run by Falun Dafa practitioners, I submitted a set of legal documents to the Procuratorate including: the letter demanding that the prosecutor not indict me; criminal complaints against the prosecutor, the police officer from the Domestic Security Bureau, and the chief of the Procuratorate; the notice by the China Administration of Press and Publication to repeal the ban on the publication of Falun Dafa books; and my defense statement saying that I committed no crime by practicing Falun Dafa.
After submitting the legal documents, the staff of the Procuratorate attempted to find a lawyer to represent me. I told them that I already had a lawyer and didn’t need their “help.” I also asked them for their names but they refused to give them to me, likely fearing that I would expose them. I told them how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) staged the Tiananmen Square self-immolation hoax to slander Falun Dafa and that the Chinese publication bureau had rescinded the ban on Falun Dafa books. Before leaving, I again tried to dissuade them from prosecuting Falun Dafa cases.
Someone from the Procuratorate called me a month later and told me to go to their office. When the staff members heard that I would be coming, many of them came out to look at me. One person commented that I didn’t look like I was in my 60s, but instead looked like I was in my 40s. I responded that many Falun Dafa practitioners look young because Falun Dafa is a mind-body practice.
Instead of talking to me, the Procuratorate sent me to the courthouse. I went with them, thinking it was an opportunity to clarify the facts about Falun Dafa to the judge.
I greeted the judge and began talking about Falun Dafa. The judge said, “You still dare to talk about this here?” I replied that I am not afraid of having more people know the facts.
After ten minutes, the judge went to the president’s office. When he returned, he told the staff member from the Procuratorate that the court would not accept my case. The staffer became anxious and called his supervisor. Half an hour later, the court still refused to accept my case. In the end, the court returned the case to the Procuratorate for supplementary investigation.
A few days later, the police came to my home and searched my place for any information related to my complaint letters. I told them about Falun Dafa and sternly said that they were committing a crime and would be brought to justice one day. They looked dejected and said they would not come to my home again.
Clarifying the Facts to the Judge
One day, I went to the courthouse to visit the judge. I told him facts about Falun Dafa and that Falun Dafa has now spread to more than 100 countries. The judge looked helplessly at me. I understood that he meant that he had no authority over why the persecution was happening. I told him that it didn’t matter if he didn’t have any say. At least he had the chance to meet me and hear the facts.
I learned that he and his family were Muslims and that he had joined the Youth League and the Young Pioneers. I asked him to quit the CCP’s organizations. He was hesitating to reply when another judge arrived and so I didn’t have the chance to continue what I was saying.
Relatives of Falun Dafa practitioners also visited the judge along with their lawyers. The presiding judge told them to find ways to stop the trials as they, too, were reluctant to hold the trials.
Being the Protagonist in Court
Despite all this, I was still indicted and scheduled to appear in court. During the four months leading to my court hearing, I submitted various documents to several agencies, arguing that it is legal for me to practice Falun Dafa.
During the court hearing, there were 200 to 300 people in the gallery. The people in the last row, who were wearing sunglasses, were officers from the 610 Office. After I was released from prison a year later, I learned that a few hundred practitioners and relatives from a dozen cities and counties came to the court to show their support. Their righteous energy caused a guard to faint and the trial was adjourned for 20 minutes. Half an hour after the trial resumed, the prosecutor suffered a heart problem and the session was adjourned for 15 minutes. Later, the presiding judge said he had diabetes and had to adjourn the court session to rest for a while.
When defending myself, I said that I had not committed any crime and the prosecutor and judges also know that Falun Dafa practitioners have not broken any law. However, in the past two decades, many practitioners were put on trial for following their faith. Today, I was being charged without any evidence of a crime. I said that in the future, they would face justice because they used their authority to persecute good people. I said I was worried about them. Just because they are not being held responsible now doesn’t mean that they won’t be held responsible in the future. Using the law to persecute Falun Dafa practitioners violates one’s moral conscience and violates the law.
I went on to say that I have practiced Falun Dafa for more than 20 years and have never taken any medicine since I began the practice. During the winter when it was minus 30 degree Celsius, I wore pants without long-johns and regular shoes and I didn’t feel the cold. My relatives, friends, and colleagues admired the power of Falun Dafa. My parents passed away when I was young. As the only child who graduated from college, I took on the responsibility of raising my younger brothers, nephews, nieces, grandparents, and grandchildren for more than 40 years. My daughter said that I have been living for others in this life. At work, I was hardworking and was a model worker. I also received the first prize for my thesis and my work in the field of minority education and scientific research was published two years in a row.
The Outcome
My lawyers entered a not guilty plea for me after I gave my own defense statements. The judge didn’t interrupt them when they were talking.
Later, I asked the presiding judge if there was any legal basis for the trial and the judge said no. I then said that I should be released unconditionally since there was no legal basis on which to charge me.
The trial lasted more than 12 hours, with a one-hour break. I told the guards that the day before was World Falun Dafa Day. Someone asked if there was really a Falun Dafa Day. They were shocked when I told them that Master Li first started spreading Falun Dafa on May 13, 1992 in Changchun before leaving China to share the teachings abroad, and now people in more than 100 countries were practicing it.
In the end, I was sentenced to one year in prison, a much lighter sentence than others had expected. Even detainees in the detention center whom I talked to were inspired after hearing about my verdict, and more than 60 people quit the CCP and its organizations when I had the chance to talk to them again.
A practitioner, who was detained in the same cell as me, was released after being held for six months without being sentenced after her lawyer went to the Procuratorate to oppose the persecution.
The outcome was due to the combined efforts of everyone including: a local practitioner who spent much of his personal time driving our lawyers around; several practitioners who helped to send righteous thoughts; practitioners who exposed the persecution details online; the local efforts to coordinate people; and practitioners who sent righteous thoughts outside the court and at home.
Conclusion
After I appealed the verdict, I met the presiding judge of the higher court, who was the son of my previous supervisor. My supervisor respected me a lot when I worked in the company. The presiding judge introduced himself to me and said that he heard from his father that I have a prestigious reputation and that I continued to publish papers even after I retired.
He told me that my sentence could be reduced if I wrote the guarantee statements. I told him sternly that couldn’t. I also told him how his father had never blindly followed orders from above and that he had always placed the interests of the employees first, which is why the employees remembered him even after he passed away. I told him that his father would not want him to make me sign the statements against my will. I went on to explain that the Tiananmen Square self-immolation was a hoax. Later, I wrote him a persuasion letter suggesting that he stop judging Falun Dafa cases. My lawyer also sent him a letter to persuade him to not be involved in the persecution. He later withdrew from presiding over Falun Dafa cases.
According to reports by Minghui.org, at least 350 practitioners were arrested on the same day as I was. Under Master’s protection and the cooperation of the lawyers and practitioners, especially the practitioners from the legal forum, we were able to minimize the persecution to the greatest extent possible. I also got the chance to help the officers handling my case to understand the facts about Falun Dafa throughout the entire prosecution process.
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