Lawyer Faces Second Sentence for Faith
For transporting informational materials on Falun Gong, lawyer Meng Kai was once sentenced to 7 years in the Changsha Prison. He would be intensely interrogated, forced to labor for over 15 hours, and beaten unconscious on multiple occasions.
In October 2020, Meng was again arrested for his faith. Authorities detained him for a year before recently sentencing him to 3.5 years. His family members were threatened to stay silent after the trial.
Recent Arrest and Sentencing
Around 5 a.m. on October 28, 2020, police arrested Meng as he was heading out of town for a hearing. The police took him to his home around 4 p.m. and ransacked it.
The break in terrified Meng’s elderly mother, who was recovering after two craniotomies. A dozen officers in plainclothes searched room-by-room through the house.
When Meng’s mother inquired what crime her son had committed and asked for police to show their IDs, no one responded to her. The police put a document on a table, listing a person surnamed Liao. Before she could take a closer look, they put document away.
An officer directing the raid told Meng’s mother:
“We are from the Yuhua District Public Security Department and are handling this case on behalf of Liuyang Police Station. Your son was reported by someone in Liuyang (a county-level city under the jurisdiction of Changsha).”
The raid was filmed and Meng’s computer and Falun Gong books would be confiscated.
After Meng’s other relatives learned of his arrest, they rushed to the Yuhua District Public Security Department to inquire of him.
One police director said to them:
“Since it appears that he will not plead guilty, we will sentence him to three to seven years!”
The next day, Meng’s family was told to go to the Wenyuan Police Station in Changsha to get his arrest warrant. Meng was taken in the interim to the Changsha City No.1 Detention Center.
During the next five months, Meng’s family hired two lawyers for him. The detention center would bar both lawyers from meeting with Meng.
In March 2021, when Meng’s family went to the detention center to make a deposit for him, the system indicated that he was no longer there.
They then went to the police station to ask where he was, but the officers all said they did not know anything about his case. Suspecting that he might have already been sentenced, his family went to Changsha Prison.
A guard told them:
“We can’t tell you anything without approval from our supervisors.”
His family then asked if they could make a deposit for him and bring him some clothes.
The guard responded:
“You don’t need to bring him anything. We have everything here. After studying [undergoing brainwashing] here for a month and a half, you will be informed which prison he will be assigned to. Return home and wait for the notice.”
Thinking that he had already been secretly sentenced, his mother was surprised to receive a registered letter on April 16, 2021. It was a notice approving Meng’s arrest issued by the Liuyang City Police Department, dated December 5, 2020.
The Liuyang Court informed Meng’s family on September 16 that he was scheduled to be tried via a video call the next day. His family attended the trial and saw Meng on the screen. He entered a not guilty plea on his on behalf and argued that no law in China has ever deemed Falun Gong a crime. The judge sentenced him to 3.5 years.
After the trial, a court staff member warned his relatives that they might lose their jobs if they spoke out for him. This is the same warning they have received over the past two decades of the persecution.
Previous Sentencing
Meng was arrested on February 24, 2001, after being reported for transferring 2,000 Falun Gong flyers between two cities in Hunan province.
Officers from the Tuqiao Police Station broke into his home in the evening and took him to the police station. His cash and a bank deposit slip having almost ten thousand yuan were confiscated.
Around 20 officers took turns interrogating him and deprived him of sleep for four days. He was then transferred the Huarong Detention Center, without notifying his family. Officers later went into his home and confiscated his Falun Gong books, his computer, his cellphone, and a beeper.
The guards instigated the inmates to beat Meng and take away his clothes despite the freezing weather. When his family learned about the abuse, they went to visit him and tried to deliver more clothes to him but were turned away.
Meng fainted several times from the beatings. His right ear was injured. The inmates monitored him around the clock and followed him even when he used the restroom. After 42 days of torture, he was put in solitary confinement.
While serving time in Chishan Prison, Meng was forced to work at least 15 hours a day. In late 2004, he was transferred to Jinshi Prison and held in the ward for felons. The conditions were very poor and he was made to sit on a small stool without moving and talking for long hours each day.
Meng moved to Changsha for a job after he was released, but the police continued to harass him and his family.
Based on an original report from Minghui.org:
