In April 2003, Mr. Wei Jun, an attorney from the Baicheng Law Firm in Baise City, Guangxi Province, defended Ms. Liang Changying at the Second Criminal Court of the Youjiang District Court. Ms. Liang is a Falun Gong practitioner who was on trial because she wrote an article that was posted to the Internet, documenting the human rights violations committed against Falun Gong practitioners at the Guangxi First Labor Camp and the Guangxi Women’s Labor Camp.

Mr. Wei argued Ms. Liang’s case based on the facts and provided a powerful defense against the public prosecutor’s charges. During closing arguments, when the public prosecutor was unsuccessful in rebutting Mr. Wei’s arguments, he became very upset. Despite Mr. Wei’s efforts, Ms. Liang was still sentenced to five and a half years in prison.

When the court adjourned, the public prosecutor demanded, “Isn’t there a regulation saying that lawyers cannot defend Falun Gong practitioners who plead ‘not guilty’? Who authorized that lawyer to defend a Falun Gong practitioner?”

That day, Mr. Wei’s home phone, cell phone, and office phone were put under surveillance. Several days later, police officers went to the Judiciary Bureau and asked the bureau to suspend Mr. Wei’s license to practice law and to sentence him to three years of forced labor. The director of the Judiciary Bureau refused their request, so the police then warned Mr. Wei that in the future he would not be allowed to defend Falun Gong practitioners. Then they confiscated all of his materials regarding Ms. Liang’s case.