Rape Victim Liu Jizhi Appeals to the High People's Court of Hebei Province for Punishment of Policeman He Xuejian

(Clearwisdom.net) Recently practitioner Ms. Liu Jizhi appealed to the High People's Court of Hebei Province concerning the crimes of rape and indecency that policeman He Xuejian committed against two female Falun Dafa practitioners. Liu Jizhi asked the courts to review the case and place criminal charges on the defendant according to proper legal procedures. She also sued Xing Guoping, a policeman from Dongchengfang Town Police Station, Wang Zhengjun, He Xuejian (under police custody), and Chai Yuqiao and Wang Huiqi from the General Administration Office of the Dongchengfang Town government for assisting in the crimes of torture and rape.

The persecution of Ms. Liu Jizhi began when Song Xiaobin, Vice Party Secretary of Dongchengfang Town, Zhuozhou City, Heibei Province, and Chai Yuqiao, Director of the General Administration Office of the Township Government extorted money from Falun Gong practitioners.

In early November 2005, the provincial 610 Office held a meeting in Zhuozhou City to arrange a new wave of persecution against Falun Gong practitioners. After the meeting, Song Xiaobin and Chai Yuqiao started their extortion plan and collected fines totaling 12,300 yuan for themselves. (Not long ago, they returned the money.) Around one o'clock in the afternoon of November 25, policeman He Xuejian from Dongchengfang Police Station of Zhuozhou City, raped two female Falun Gong practitioners during the process of trying to force practitioners to write down something against their beliefs.

On November 25, 2005, Falun Gong practitioner Liu Jizhi was beaten and raped by policeman He Xuejian from Dongchengfang Town Police Station. Her buttocks and her legs were severely injured from the vicious treatment.

The first trial concerning this case was conducted on May 15, 2006 at Baoding City Intermediate People's Court in Hebei Province. On May 19, 2006, the court decided that there was insufficient evidence and denied the case. The judge said, "There is no proof that defendant He Xuejian molested Liu Jizhi's breasts and genital area." On June 8, 2006, the High People's Court of Hebei Province rejected He Xuejian's appeal and upheld the original verdict.

Ms. Liu Jizhi said in the appeal paper, "The first and second trials of this case judged incorrectly that He Xuejian only conducted indecent behavior toward women. The crime he committed was violent and forceful rape." Practitioners Qu Wenting, Wang Helin, and housewife Jia Yanzhi all stood up to give testimony as to the mental state of the plaintiff after she was victimized, yet this testimony was never considered in the case.

Ms. Liu's appeal states: "The Intermediate People's Court of Baoding City in Hebei Province and the High People's Court of Hebei Province deprived the plaintiff of her right to attend the trial in the case of He Xuejian's crimes of rape and indecency toward women. This also is a severe violation of the law."

Plaintiff Liu Jizhi was illegally detained from March 7 to June 15, 2006 during the trials by the Baoding City Police and Zhuozhou City Police.

On May 10, 2006, the Intermediate People's Court of Baoding City sent a notice to the plaintiff informing her to "attend the trial" at nine o'clock on May 15, 2006. However, the plaintiff was deprived of her freedom so that she could not attend the first trial. Besides, there were only five days between the plaintiff receiving the notice and the first trial, and the plaintiff was not able to get in touch with her family members to find a lawyer or assign a family member to attend the trial instead of her. When the court delivered a judgment to the plaintiff on May 22, 2006, she was not informed that she had the right to appeal. Due to not being allowed to consult a lawyer, the plaintiff's rights were not protected. The court conducting the first trial violated Articles 154, 155, 157, 159, and 160 of the Criminal Law, and the process was illegal.

Similar problems also existed in the process of the second trial.

"There were only seventeen days between the first judgment made by the Intermediate People's Court of Baoding City on May 22, 2006 and the second judgment made by the High People's Court of Hebei Province on June 8, 2006. There were only 10 days for the plaintiff to appeal, and the second trial was accomplished within seven days. The actual time of the second judgment was issued on June 7, 2006. According to Article 187 of the Criminal Law "The court conducting the second trial shall form a joint court for the trial. The joint court does not have to conduct a trial if all facts are clear upon reading the files, questioning the defendant, hearing from the witnesses, lawyers, litigants etc. The court which is supposed to conduct the second trial shall conduct a court trial of those cases returned by the People's Procuratorates." In this case, clearly the issues are complicated and the evidence unclear; especially the critical evidence about whether the defendant raped the plaintiff was not clear. According to Article 187, the second-trial court must conduct a court trail, and even if it does not, it is required to consult the plaintiff. Thus, the procedures of the second trial of this case were illegal.

To sum up, the plaintiff believes that the procedures of the first and second trials were illegal and the plaintiff's rights to appeal were deprived. Thus, the plaintiff requests the court to re-conduct the trials and punish the rapist He Xuejian according to the law in order to uphold justice and protect citizens' rights."

Also, Liu Jizhi launched a lawsuit against policemen Xing Guoping, Wang Zhengjun, and He Xuejian (under police custody) from Dongchengfang Police Station in ZhuoZhou City, and Chai Yuqiao and Wang Huiqi from the General Administration Office of the Dongchengfang Town government.

The plaintiff, Ms. Liu Jizhi believes, "In order to obtain an affidavit, defendants Xing Guoping and He Xuejian beat the plaintiff illegally with torture implements. Their methods were vicious. The defendants Wang Zhengjun, Chai Yuqiao, and Wang Huiqi instructed and ordered He Xuejian to torture the plaintiff into giving an affidavit, which resulted in severe physical and mental damage to the plaintiff. The behavior of the above five people show sufficient evidence to prove the crime of torture in question. In the process of defendant He Xuejian committing the rape, defendants Wang Zheng Jun and Wang Huiqi, as policeman and government officials, did not stop it; rather, they instigated it and allowed the crime. This has brought strong negative effects to society. The behavior of defendants Wang Zhengjun and Wang Huiqi constitute assisting in the rape crime. Thus, according to Article 59 and 60, the case against the above mentioned defendants about their criminal responsibilities according to the law is presented to the legal departments to uphold justice and protect the plaintiff's rights."

Around 9 o'clock in the morning of September 30, 2006, Judge Lei Hongtao of the Appeals Department at Hebei Province High People's Court in Baoding City, and Judge Hu at the Appeals Office of Baoding City Intermediate People's Court, met the family members of Ms. Liu Jizhi at the Baoding City Intermediate People's Court in Hebei Province. The two judges listened closely for approximately two hours to the situations that Liu's family members reported and took notes carefully. Liu Jizhi's husband Wei Xiliang submitted the criminal appeal letter and lawsuit paper to them in person. Judge Lei Hongtao said that Falun Gong practitioners are also citizens of the country and their rights should be protected. He agreed that the case should be studied carefully and reported this to the relevant officials and departments. He said a reply should be available by the end of October.

At 5 o'clock the same afternoon, Wei Xiliang also submitted the legal documents to Zhuozhou City Police Station.

October 7, 2006

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