Religious Group Leaders Trial Finished on Friday; Inhumane Torture for Confessions Revealed

China Aid Association
Photo: Xu Wenku
(Midland, Texas (CAA)-March 4, 2006) CAA 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 March 3, Friday. Inhumane torture including sexual abuse for confessions was revealed by some defendants during the court trial.
According to Ms. Xu Baiyin, the daughter of the No.1 defendant Mr. Xu Wenku, the trial started at 8:30am on February 28 Tuesday at Shuangyashan Intermediate court, Heilongjiang province. CAA learned from 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. 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”. Then Mr. Xu told the court how inhumanly 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” (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.
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 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 involved over 32 million Yuan ( $4 million) fraud.
Mr. Xu was described as “calm and peaceful” by his daughter Ms. Xu Baiyin. “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, ” 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”.
Approximately 20 of the other relatives of the defendants including Mr. Xu’s wife Ms. Wang Jun were waiting outside the court house under frozen cold whether throughout the court trial days. However, all of the defendants were escorted out of the court house with their faces covered by the police.
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.
Premier Wen Jiabao, PRC
PO Box 1741, The State Council, Beijing, PRC (zip code 100017)
Contact Phone?+86-10-66012399
Email:  [email protected]
Ms. Wu Aiying, minister of Ministry of Justice of PRC
Tel:+86-10-65205114
Fax:+86-10-64729863
Email: [email protected]
Address: No. 10, Nan Da Jie, Chaoyangmen, Beijing City (Zip Code: 100020)
Issued by CAA on March 4, 2006