2014-08-13
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Beijing-based lawyer Wang Yu in an undated photo.
Photo courtesy of Wang Yu’s microblog
Authorities in the northeastern Chinese province of Heilongjiang have taken into custody and questioned three rights lawyers representing detained members of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement, lawyers and relatives said on Wednesday.
One of the detained practitioners of Falun Gong, which claims tens of millions of followers around the world and was banned as an “evil cult” in July 1999, was Xiao Yanhua from Heilongjiang’s Mudanjiang city, her sister said.
“A huge group of policemen came storming in and took away my younger sister, who was learning Falun Gong,” Xiao Yanrong told RFA.
“She was taken away by about eight or nine police officers from the city state security police,” she said.
The family then hired top Beijing rights lawyer Wang Yu to represent Xiao Yanhua.
But Wang and two other lawyers were refused permission to meet with Xiao and other Falun Gong clients after arriving at the detention center in the Xiao family home city of Mudanjiang, and were themselves held for more than seven hours for questioning, they said.
“The main reason was that we went to the detention center and tried to meet with our clients,” Wang said after her release on Wednesday. “This is definitely a Falun Gong case.”
“It comes under clause 300 in the Criminal Law pertaining to evil cults and their use to harm the rule of law,” she said.
‘Three don’ts’
She said the lawyers had made the trip to the detention center in person twice, in addition to contacting the police department and the state prosecution office.
“They still won’t let us see them,” Wang said. “This is totally against the law.”
Wang said Xiao’s case had already been presented to a local court, paving the way for a trial, while officials told them lawyers should treat Falun Gong cases according to the “three don’ts” principle.
“Don’t meet with them, don’t take the case, and don’t explain why,” Wang said. “That’s why they won’t give us the time of day now that we’ve come to Mudanjiang to represent [Xiao].”
“They won’t accept our documentation,” she said.
The three lawyers were detained until late on Tuesday, Wang added.
Meanwhile, Li Chunfu said he had tried to meet with another Falun Gong client, Guan Rian.
“This case is at the appeal stage, and I have come here three times to try to meet with my client, but they won’t allow it,” Li said.
“They won’t even tell me who the trial judge was, or the prosecutor,” he said.
