The growing willingness of Chinese attorneys to accept Falun Gong clients is strongly opposed by the CCP forces involved in the persecution.

Falun Gong Practitioners receive some support from attorneys and community members who, at risk to themselves, oppose the outrageous persecution.

CCP Court Forces Defense Lawyer to Break His Contract

Several days ago, the Chinese Communist Party Court and Judiciary Department in Nanguan District, Changchun City, Jilin Province, notified the family of Falun Dafa practitioner Ms. Gao Shuyu of her court date. A year ago she was illegally arrested and has been detained ever since. At the same time, the authorities forced the lawyer that Ms. Gao's family had hired to break his contract with her family.

Ms. Gao Shuyu from Changchun City

Ms. Gao Shuyu is 54 years old and lives in the Haoyuan Subdivision on Weixing Street in Changchun City. She worked in the Xinhua Bookstore in Changchun City before she retired. She previously had thyroid neoplasm, heart disease, high blood pressure, and menopause symptoms, among other ailments. After she started practicing Falun Gong, all these conditions disappeared.

In March 2008, Ms. Gao and the younger sister of Ms. Zhu Shuyun, went to Heizuizi Women's Forced Labor Camp in Changchun City to visit Ms. Zhu, but the labor camp did not let them meet. Ms. Zhu had been severely persecuted. Not long after, the labor camp set up an appointment with Ms. Gao and the sister of Ms. Zhu Shuyun to "talk," and the police secretly recorded the conversation on videotape. Afterwards Ms. Gao was followed and monitored by the police.

The police from the Nanguan Branch of Changchun City arrested her and ransacked her home on April 22, 2008. Ms. Gao was detained in the Third Detention Center of Changchun City Police Department. On May 23, Li Jun, the person that handled her case from Nanguan District sent fabricated documents to the Procuratorate of the Nanguan District. On December 6, Nanguan District Procuratorate filed the complaint in Nanguan District Court. In late December, Sun Jianbo, the person in charge of her case at the district court, called her family to tell them that the court date was January 6, 2009.

Ms. Gao's family hired a lawyer from Huagang Law Firm in Changchun City. The lawyer met Ms. Gao in the detention center, but he was forbidden to legally copy the case in Nanguan District Court and was told by the court that the court date had been postponed. In February 2009, when Ms. Cao's family checked on the status of the case with the lawyer, and learned that the Nanguan District Court had lied to the lawyer, saying that the case was not in the Court, and was instead in the Procuratorate. Ms. Gao's family checked with the Procuratorate. Zhang Hongmei, the person in charge of the case there, said the case had been sent to Nanguan District Court on December 6, 2008, and had never come back to the Procuratorate. The family asked Sun Jianbo again, and he told them to go home and wait for the Court's notice.

Ms. Gao's family received a phone call from the lawyer on April 10, 2009. They went to the lawyer's office, where he told them that he was under severe pressure and was not allowed to defend those who practice Falun Gong. The office had been ordered to make up an excuse to break the contract with Ms. Gao's family. Though they had done some work, they had to break the contract with her family. Her family didn't expect this, and also sensed that the lawyer and the law firm were being pressured by the CCP.

Right before the end of the business day, Ms. Gao's family received a phone call from Nanguan District Court explaining that the court date had changed to Tuesday, April 14, 2009, and that the Court would assign Ms. Gao a lawyer. The Court notified her family at the end of the day on Friday so that the family wouldn't be able to make any other arrangements. The court date was the following Tuesday, way too soon for Ms. Gao's family to hire another lawyer. The court-assigned lawyer would have said whatever the Court wanted him to say.

Mr. Tao Yuan Illegally Detained, His Attorney Beaten and Injured

Forty-two-year-old Mr. Tao Yuan from Chengdu City and his mother Zhang Shengrong are both Falun Gong practitioners. After the persecution began on July 20, 1999, they were both severely persecuted. After the persecution started, Tao Yuan was illegally detained and sent to forced labor camps many times. In early 2007, he was arrested at home by officers from Jinyang Police Station. His parents went to Jinyang Police Station and the Jinyang Street Committee asking for information many times, and their inquiries were all dodged, and they were threatened. In September 2007, Tao Yuan's parents received a "notice of imprisonment" from the Guangyuan Prison, and only then did they learn that Tao Yuan had been sentenced to four years of imprisonment by the Wuhou Court. However Guangyuan Prison didn't let Tao Yuan see his family, claiming that the local Jinyang 610 Office wouldn't approve of it. Tao Yuan's mother has not been allowed to see her son since early 2007 when Tao Yuan was arrested.

Ms. Zhang Shengrong, who is in her seventies, had been detained many times and was detained at the Jinhua Brainwashing Center for three years and three months. Beginning in December 2005, Zhang Shengrong was followed, monitored and harassed by an agent from Jinyang Street Committee. On March 27, 2009, she received a phone call from the Guangyuan Prison and was told that her son Tao Yuan had cervical vertebra dislocation and needed surgery, and Zhang Shengrong needed to sign. After the mother signed, the prison let her hurriedly see Tao Yuan, who was lying in bed and monitored by many officers. The police forced the mother to leave quickly without letting her talk to her son. The prison personnel said that Tao Yuan had cervical vertebra dislocation and also blood clots in his head.

Ms. Zhang Shengrong went to the Guangyuan prison to see her son on April 1, 2009. Prison personnel prohibited her from seeing him, claiming that the local 610 Office did not approve of visitation. When she returned home that night, a couple of people, including the head of the Jinyang Chinese Communist Party (CCP) committee and Gong Daoquan, went to Ms. Zhang's home and using threats tried to make her tell them who had accompanied her to go to Guangyuan Prison. The committee has since intensified their monitoring of her. They often call to harass her, knock on her door, and prohibit her from going outside.

On April 7, Ms. Zhang was able to evade the person who was monitoring her and she went outside. On the afternoon of that day, Jinyang police and agents from the Jinyang CCP committee blocked the entrance of her apartment unit and the entrance of the apartment building at Hongyun Garden. The doorway was full of people as was the corridor and the door to her apartment.

On April 11, there was a seal on Zhang Shengrong's door. The mother decided to hire an attorney to seek justice for her son.

On the afternoon of April 12, 2009, two attorneys for Mr. Tao Yuan accompanied Ms. Zhang Shengrong to her home to get the ID, the household register, etc., and met with an agent from the Jinyang Comprehensive Administration Office, the person who was following Zhang Shengrong. The attorneys sternly warned him that his behavior was illegal. Later many people from the Jinyang Comprehensive Administration Office and officers from Jinyang Police Station, including assistant police chief Deng Xingqiang, broke into her house and tried to threaten the attorneys and Ms. Zhang. One attorneys pointed out that they had already broken the law by "breaking into a personal residence," and told them he would make a complaint about Deng Xingqiang to the police superintendent of Wuhou District and the police commissioner of Wuhan City.

Several people from Jinyang Comprehensive Administration Office blocked the corridor and stopped Ms. Zhang from leaving. The attorneys had no choice but to leave first, but they agreed to pick up Ms. Zhang to visit her injured son at Guangyuan the following day.

At about 9:00 a.m. on the morning of April 13, two attorneys went to Zhang Shengrong's house. Attorney Cheng Hai was beaten. He reported the incident to the police and made a written record at around noon. Jiang Ning, deputy CCP secretary of the neighborhood committee, and Gong Daoquan, director of Jinyang Comprehensive Administration Office, appeared and requested that the personnel from the neighborhood committee go with her.

Ms. Zhang Shengrong went to Guangyuan Prison together with the two attorneys and two ladies from the neighborhood committee.