Recently, Hebei Dawu Group released “Dawu case ten questions and answers (four)”, disclosed the details of the “Dawu case” pre-trial meeting. Sun Dawu said at the meeting, the treatment is bad, life is worse than death, and cried in court, willing to take all the guilt for the group and employees. However, scholars said that the authorities fast trial and heavy sentence is in order to the Dawu group a net, the possibility of Sun Dawu alone to take the blame is slim.
This article published on May 25 on the website of “Minsheng Watch” said that the pre-trial meeting of the “Dawu case” began on May 17 and ended on May 22, a total of five and a half days. Due to the hasty convening, lack of sufficient time to read the file, the pre-trial conference scene is chaotic, the prosecution and defense of the three sides of the conflict, almost unable to reach any consensus. The legal team of the Dawu Group believes that the pre-trial conference was a mere formality and that the authorities were trying to close the case quickly as a tribute to the centennial of the Party.
Mental torture, induced confessions and torture
“Under such pressure, suffering is unbearable, life is worse than death, and I would rather take all the responsibility. I can even die. As long as I liberate everyone, I can die.” Sun Dawu cried bitterly at the meeting, saying he was willing to take all the responsibility for his family and employees. “The law is not outside the human condition, we did make mistakes, we sent messages online, we made mistakes with the land issue. I am willing to take responsibility. But I bear the burden, others are heavier. I am willing to harmonize. We are the typical enterprise that engages in socialism. It is a positive typical. I am doing business with feelings and ideals. It pains me. Now it has become a sinner.”
At the same time, Sun Dawu said there was an act of police inducement during the investigation, pressuring him with a false confession from Sun Dawu’s second brother, Sun Edward.
“Wearing black headgear is the norm in our lives. We have to wear it whenever we go out of the place, including for medical appointments. I had no sun and no windows for three months, and this mental destruction had reached its limit. It was unbearable to suffer inside (referring to the place of residence). Life is worse than death, I hunger strike also to change the coercive measures required to go to the detention center.” Sun Dawu disclosed at the meeting that he was so devastated during the period he was designated to live under surveillance that he could not get a guaranteed diet and had to eat pickles to get by. “I have to take medicine, and I am not told the time. Inside, I don’t know the time, there are no clocks.”
Meanwhile, Sun Fusuo, the youngest son of Sun Dawu and deputy general manager of Dawu Group, claims he was tortured for more than 30 hours and was also threatened, intimidated and brainwashed. Ji Wei Lian, secretary of the Dawu Group office, said she has been under surveillance for six months, with no windows in her home, vomiting several times, and reaching the end of her physical condition.
Yang Jianli, founder of the U.S.-based human rights organization Citizen Power, told the station that both torture to extract confessions and illegally induced confessions lead to the invalidation of evidence: “Inducing confessions is not allowed during interrogation, it’s a criminal act. They were commonly tortured, and everyone spoke about the lack of sunlight and wearing black hoods. Under such circumstances, any confession should not count. Sun Dawu said he wanted to speak about this at the trial, and Sun Dawu understood it very well, was prepared for this, and wanted to do resistance.”
Chen Chuangchuang, the current director of AFA, believes that the Chinese Communist Party has long used illegal methods such as induced confessions and torture in handling sensitive cases, and since the initiative rests with the authorities, Sun Dawu cannot change the authorities’ determination to try him quickly and sentence him severely no matter how hard he fights.
Chen Chuangchuang said: “arrested so many people, take such a big action, the leader of the Sun Dawu will certainly be heavy sentence, he confessed or not, it does not matter, this example is too much. The Communist Party will of course take the first evil must be dealt with in a group case, divide and disintegrate, those who admit to cooperate with the crime will be sentenced lightly, divide and disintegrate this trick works very well, no matter how big the group case can be seen.”
At the meeting, Sun Dawu and others admitted that the “8-4 incident” involving the crime of mobbing state organs, obstruction of public service, provocation and nuisance was handled incorrectly, but the defendants all believe that the crime of illegal absorption of public deposits, illegal occupation of agricultural land and other charges are the historical legacy of the Dawu Group in the development process. However, the police wantonly expanded the scope of Sun Dawu’s plea of guilty and punishment.
Activists: Authorities want to wipe out the Dawu Group
Lawyers say the “Dawu case” is facing a quick trial and heavy sentence. According to the information from the defense, the prosecutor’s recommendation for the sentencing of Sun Dawu’s eldest son and chairman of the Dawu Group is 20 years for a plea of not guilty and 16 years for a plea of guilty; the sentencing recommendation for Sun Zhihua, Sun Dawu’s second brother, is 14 years for a plea of not guilty and 11 years for a plea of guilty. Sun Dawu himself will face the risk of a maximum sentence of 25 years.
Long-term concern about the “Dawu case” of the United States South Carolina School of Business Professor Xie Tian told the station, Sun Dawu once the loopholes in the judicial process to plead, will face more stringent punishment: “Sun Dawu embodies the private entrepreneurs do not fear the government, nor collusion with the government (spirit), Dawu Group schools, hospitals, low fees or no fees, to expose the ugly face of the Chinese government’s brutality, incompetence and inefficiency. He has offended officials and government departments, large and small, as well as made the upper echelons feel uneasy. The CCP will definitely impose a heavy sentence in order to make an example of him, and if Sun Dawu tries to use a judicial loophole to defend himself, the protest will be harsher for the CCP, and he may be sentenced with a higher sentence.”
Yang Jianli also believes that the Chinese Communist authorities are attempting to wipe out Sun Dawu and others and completely take over the assets of the Dawu Group, and it is unlikely that Sun Dawu alone will bear all the blame: “From the government’s side, it is to wipe out Sun Dawu, his family and employees, and put the business in the hands of the government. But I think the possibility is very, very small.”
Yang called on the international community and human rights organizations to keep a close eye on the “Dawu case” and put pressure on the Chinese government through public pressure, even though the authorities have repeatedly reduced the space for civil society and ignored international appeals. Yang Jianli said he is in active contact with human rights organizations and governments concerned about human rights for the “Big Noon” case.
As previously reported, in May 2003, Sun Dawu was suppressed and sentenced by the authorities for publishing articles critical of current affairs on the company’s official website, and in the early hours of November 11, 2020, police raided and arrested nearly 30 people, including Sun Dawu, the head of the Hebei Dawu Agricultural and Animal Husbandry Group, his relatives, and legal entities of the group’s subsidiaries. Subsequently, the Baoding Xushui District Government appointed 29 working groups to station at Dawu Group to take over the company’s assets and all operational matters. In addition, the authorities also censored and blocked information about the “Dawu case” on the Internet, and employees and their families received warnings not to contact lawyers and the media. In April, the seven defendants in the Dawu case who were under residential surveillance were formally arrested. Sun Dawu was charged with nine counts of provocation, disrupting production and operation, forced trade, obstructing public service, gathering a crowd to storm state organs, illegal mining, illegal occupation of agricultural land, illegal absorption of public deposits and fraud.
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