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Judge Hou Peng from the Linfen City Court in Shanxi Province Tramples the Law to Frame the Innocent
By Falun Dafa practitioners in Shanxi Province
(Clearwisdom.net) Hou Peng, Presiding Judge of the No. 2 Courtroom in the
Yaodu District Court in Linfen City, Shanxi Province, has held numerous trials
against Falun Gong practitioners since the persecution against Falun Gong began
on July 20, 1999. As a law enforcement official, Hou has framed Falun Dafa
practitioners without adhering to the facts or following the laws and
regulations. As a result, many Falun Dafa practitioners have been sent to prison
and lost their jobs. One practitioner was forced to leave home and live a life
of homelessness, eventually dying from the persecution after going through
extreme hardships. In every trial, whenever the attorney was ready to defend the Falun Gong
practitioners according to proper legal procedures, Hou would rush to the
attorney's side and tell them something confidentially. The attorney would
immediately stop the defense (clearly under Hou's pressure). Hou Peng has
disregarded the legal rights of citizens and completely deprived the
practitioners of their right to defense or appeal. Each trial was hastily called
off and harsh sentencing, ranging from three to four years, was announced
afterwards. 1. Ms. Yang Meiying Died as a Result of an Unfair Trial In December 2000, Falun Dafa practitioner Ms. Yang Meiying, an employee of
the Linfen City Human Resources Company, exercised her constitutional rights by
going to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. She meant to tell the government of
her own experience of being healed from chronic illnesses, which she experienced
after practicing Falun Gong, an excellent practice based on the principle of
Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance. Unfortunately, the local police officers
escorted her back to her area. The Intermediate Court rejected the petition for
a trial, based on insufficient and unclear facts. This should have put an end to
the matter. Hou Peng, though, in his capacity as judge, scheduled another court
hearing to put Ms. Yang on trial in May 2002. She was forced into homelessness,
and was subsequently held in custody without cause by officers from the
Xiangling Police Station in Xiangfen County. Ms. Yang was hung by her arms in a
room on the second floor, after over six hours of beating. Her internal organs
were damaged. After her family was forced to pay 3,000 yuan to get
her out on medical parole, Yang Meiying soon died after, as a direct consequence
of the persecution. 2. Trampling the Law While Ignoring Human Rights In December 1999, Ms. Zhang Ruihong, a former employee of the Yaomiao Credit
Union, exercising her constitutional rights, went to Beijing to appeal for Falun
Gong. While she was traveling to Beijing, the police arrested Ms. Zhang and took
her to a station in Taiyuan City, Shanxi Province. The Yaodu District police
subsequently held her in custody for over four months. In June 2000, after Ms. Zhang and other practitioners were caught doing the
Falun Gong exercises on a pedestrian walk, the Yaodu District police detained
her for over half a month. As she had nowhere to file an appeal and was deprived
of her environment for practicing Falun Gong, Ms. Zhang started to clarify the
truth to people face to face, telling them the facts about Falun Gong and the
persecution. In August 2000, the Yaodu District police again detained Zhang
Ruihong. The Linfen Daily took this as an excuse to slander Falun Dafa
and practitioners. On January 4, 2001, Hou Peng presided over the trial against Ms. Zhang. Hou,
resorting to the same coercive measures in the courtroom to stop attorney Yang
Zongsen from defending her. Hou also denied Ms. Zhang the legal rights to
self-defense and appeal. When a prosecutor charged her with "not changing
her behavior after numerous attempts of education from the authorities,"
Ms. Zhang solemnly replied, "As practitioners, we try our best to be good
people, based on the principle of Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance. We have
done nothing wrong; how could we change? Do you want us to change for the
worse?" The prosecutor was silent. Still, Hou Peng sentenced her to four
years in prison without any evidence of a crime (later changed to three years
after Ms. Zhang filed an appeal with the Intermediate Court). Ms. Zhang was
secretly sent to a provincial women's prison in May 2001. Officers in that prison resorted to various techniques of torture in order to
pressure Ms. Zhang to give up Falun Dafa. They tortured her with shocks from
electric batons, ordered inmates to beat her, and verbally abused her. Other
punishments included making her stand up for five to six consecutive days,
incarcerating her in a solitary compartment and depriving her of sleep. When
Zhang Ruihong went on a hunger strike to protest this abuse, they took her to a
solitary compartment for force-feeding. Two officers forced her into a chair and
held her legs, while another one twisted her arms to her back and then pulled
them upward. Another officer grabbed her hair and pulled her head back, while
one pried her mouth open and yet another officer poured a thin corn gruel into
her mouth. Ms. Zhang's arms were almost broken and she suffered excruciating
pain. She was not able to move her arms long after the force-feeding was over.
Ms. Zhang Ruihong has suffered mental and physical abuse for extended periods in
this prison. 3. Elderly Gentleman in His Seventies Is Not Spared Mr. Sima Shou from Fujian Province is in his seventies. In December 2001,
police received reports that he was raising public awareness of Falun Dafa. They
ransacked his home, taking him into custody. Several months later, Hou Peng from
the Yaodu District Court presided over Mr. Sima's trial and sentenced him to
three years in prison. In 2003, the elderly Mr. Sima was sent to a prison in Qi
County and was released after extensive abuse. But he has no home to return to,
and he has been forced to leave town and move from place to place. December 22, 2004
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