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INHUMANE
TORTURE FOR CONFESSIONS
REVEALED AT CHINESE RELIGIOUS GROUP LEADERS TRIAL THAT FINISHED ON FRIDAY By Michael Ireland Saturday, March 4, 2006 CHINA (ANS) -- China Aid Association, the Midland, Texas-based Christian human rights advocacy group, has learned that inhumane torture, including sexual abuse for confessions, was revealed by some defendants during a recent court trial. CAA says it learned that after three and half days, the first trial of the 17 top leaders from a Chinese religious group was finished at noon on Friday, March 3. According to Ms. Xu Baiyin, the daughter of the No.1 defendant Mr. Xu Wenku, the trial started at 8:30am on Tuesday, February 28 at Shuangyashan Intermediate court, Heilongjiang province. In a media relase obtained by ANS, CAA says it learned from a government source that only one relative of each of the 17 defendants and all the provincial directors of Bureau of Justice related to this case were allowed to attend the hearing. Ms. Xu Baiyin, who attended the hearing, told CAA that her father immediately revoked his so-called "confession papers" as soon as the court finished reading the prosecutors interrogation records. CAA says that when asked why he signed the interrogation records by Mr. Li Heping, who is the chief defense attorney, Mr. Xu told the court that those listed confessions were signed under enormous torture when "I would rather die than live." The media release states: "Then Mr. Xu told the court how inhumanely he was tortured by the interrogators. Mr. Xu said in order to force him to admit he gave the order to his fellow leaders to murder members from Eastern Lightning, he was hung in the air for five hours with sleep deprivation for five days and nights. Moreover, both Mr. Xu and Mr. Li Maoxing, the No. 2 defendant cited some extremely inhumane torture against them by some self-claimed 'torture experts.' Mr. Xu described to the court that in order to get false confessions, the interrogators tied his fingers, toes and genitals with wire and then connected the wire with electricity. Mr. Li Maoxing showed his wounded fingers to the court and said that the torture experts used a new way of torture called 'Pi Long Pao' (which means 'put-up-dragon-robe') by making him hang in the air with a very thick blanket and then electrifying him after he got extremely wet." CAA says Mr. Li Heping, the partner and director of Beijing Global Law Firm who is a well-known human rights defender in China, defended Mr. Xu in his plea of not guilty. Mr. Li Heping was disrupted over 20 times by the chief judge when he made his case for Mr. Xu's innocence. Mr. Xu denied all the accusations in the court. According to the prosecution paper, a copy of which was obtained by CAA, Mr. Xu Wenku (also known as Xu Shuangfu and Xu Shengguang) along with 16 of his top leaders was accused of having murdered 20 leaders from a group called Eastern Lightning from 2002 to 2004. Xu was also accused of having been involved in over 32 million Yuan ( $4 million) fraud. Mr. Xu was described as "calm and peaceful" by his daughter Ms. Xu Baiyin, CAA says. "My father told the court he was very sad after hearing the murdering activities today and he said murdering is evil and forbidden by God," said Ms. Xu Baiyin, adding: "In his final remark he urged everyone in the court to believe in Jesus otherwise they will one day face eternal judgments in heaven. He also urged his children to continue to follow Christ without fear." CAA reports that approximately 20 of the other relatives of the defendants including Mr. Xu's wife Ms. Wang Jun were waiting outside the court house under freezing cold weather conditions throughout the court trial. However, all of the defendants were escorted out of the courthouse with their faces covered by the police. CAA adds that Xu has been the leader of the Chinese religious group known as the Three Grades of Servants with over half a million members nationwide. While many of the mainstream Chinese House churches identify Mr. Xu’s group as doctrinally cultic, they regard Eastern Lightning group as nothing more than a violent coercive criminal group. CAA calls upon the international community to continue to urge the Chinese government to make sure the verdict should be based upon true evidence. It is believed that the verdict could be delivered very soon. Those interested in protesting the inhumane abuse of these defendants may wish to contact: Premier Wen Jiabao, PRC
PO Box 1741, The State Council, Beijing, PRC (zip code 100017) Contact Phone：+86-10-66012399 Email： gazette@mail.gov.cn Ms. Wu Aiying, minister of Ministry of Justice of PRC Tel:+86-10-65205114 Fax:+86-10-64729863 Email: pufamaster@legalinfo.gov.cn Address： No. 10, Nan Da Jie, Chaoyangmen, Beijing City (Zip Code: 100020) Further information on this story: China Aid Association, Inc. PO Box 8513 Midland, TX 79708 Tel: (267) 205-5210 Fax: (432) 686-8355 Contact: Bob Fu info@ChinaAid.org www.ChinaAid.org
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