China Aid Association
Three Christians in China Secretly Executed
By Xin FeiEpoch Times Staff
Nov 29, 2006
(Getty Images)
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Xu Shuangfu, Li Maoxing
and Wang Jun, leaders of the “Three Grades of Servants” underground
church, were secretly executed for murder last week by the Chinese
communist regime. Xu Shuangfu’s attorney Li Heping received a phone
call from the court and learned this news.
This case was internally referred to as the “Thunder No. 1”
big case within the Ministry of Public Security. This case has involved
as many as 63 people. It started in March 2003, and spread to Shandong,
Jiangxi, Sichuan and another seven provinces. To date, 22 people have
been sentenced to death, and 12 more people have been executed.
While being interviewed by The Epoch Times, Attorney Li
Heping said, “Today the court called me to ask for my address, saying
that they need to mail me the final judgment paper. I asked for the
status of this case. The judge said that the people were executed last
week. I was very shocked. We have not obtained the final judgment paper
nor have the family members been able to see the defendants, but they
have already been executed. This is indeed too out of control.”
Neither the attorney nor the reporter could contact the family
of Xu Shuangfu. According to some insiders, because Xu’s sister exposed
the torture her brother received in jail, she has been tortured to the
point of mental breakdown and was arrested and detained in jail.
Li Maoxing’s wife told The Epoch Times that she
received the phone call from Shuangya Middle Court, telling her to go
to the court immediately to get Li’s ashes. She grieved, “I have not
gone to get the ashes, I can’t take this anymore, and I don’t want to
go anyway.”
Brief Introduction to the Case
“Three Grades of Servants” is a denomination of the underground
church in China, with a reported number of over half a million
followers in China. The leader of the denomination, Xu Shuangfu, was
accused of illegal missionary work and organizing evil cult activities
and sent to a labor camp and sentenced to over ten years in prison.
In April 2004, the Administration of Justice of Heilongjiang
Province accused Xu Shuangfu, Li Maoxing and other people as being
involved in intentionally killing 20 members from the “Lightning from
the East” denomination, as well as being involved in fraud and other
crimes. Over ten attorneys from Beijing and Shandong and Helongjiang
provinces have been defending the accused.
This March, after three and a half days of trailing at the
Shuangya Municipal Middle Court, the trial concluded. Several
defendants revealed their experience of being interrogated with
inhumane torture.
This July, the first court hearing sentenced Xu Shuangfu and
another three people to death. The other three were sentenced to 15
years in prison. From October 17 to 19, the Heilongjiang Provincial
High Court held the second hearing on this case at the Shuangya
Municipal Middle court.
Attorney: Defendants were Innocent
Attorney Li Heping said, “All the defendants in this case were
Christians. The defendants were accused of committing crimes while
their religion was not mentioned. I think there is a problem here.”
He said that the evidence presented was illegal, severely
lacking and that the legal processes were not followed. Many defendants
were seriously tortured while being interrogated. Xu Shuangfu and other
defendants were tortured many times. Every time, the torture was aimed
at forcing the defendant to admit to fabricated stories. If the
defendant refused to admit, the torture would not stop. Sometimes, the
defendant’s hand was directly pulled to make a signature or
fingerprint, and some were even tortured to death during the process.
Li Heping said that the so-called evidence used by the court
to accuse the defendants was actually the oral confession forced out of
them during the duress of torture. According to certain rules in
criminal litigation law, the case can’t be judged based only on oral
statements. It is also illegal for illegally obtained evidence to be
used in court.
According to Li Heping, Xu Shuangfu firmly denied all the
charges. He denied his oral confession in the court, saying he was
interrogated with torture and that he was beaten to admit everything.
He firmly stated that he had nothing to do with the murder case. He
emphasized that killing is forbidden by God. Li Maoxing defended
himself saying, “If a person killed someone but was not even at the
scene, how could he be accused of murder?
