A Record of the Hearing of the Xu Daoming Case (Extracts)

• Author: Chen Wequang

On August 11, 2011, with the pretext of rental enquiry, plainclothes police in Guangdong Province Shantou City requested to be let in Xu Daoming’s home. After being rejected, they forced their way into Xu Daoming’s home to search. In September, 2011, Xu Daoming was arrested on the charge of using cult to sabotage the implementation of the state’s laws.

The trial of Xu Daoming’s case was held on January 12, 2012 in the Jingping District People’s Court. Beijing lawyer Dong Qianyong was acting as Xu’s defending lawyer. At the start of the hearing, Dong requested that the handcuffs on Xu’s wrist be unlocked. Despite the judge’s consent, the bailiff refused to do so on the ground that there had never been a precedent of unlocking a suspect’s handcuffs during trial.

Dong supported his request by stating that according to the Supreme People’s Court Circular issued in 1982, handcuffs of a defendant must be unlocked during trial. The bailiff refuted by saying that the regulations of Guangdong Province High People’s Court issued in 2006 stipulated that a defendant must be handcuffed in the course of a court hearing. “In this case, let’s just leave the handcuffs locked”, said the judge.

Dong contested further and finally the judge once again agreed to Xu’s handcuffs being unlocked, yet the bailiff still refused to act accordingly. Dong challenged the bailiff by saying “this is a court hearing” and asking the bailiff “whose order should be obeyed, the judge’s or the bailiff’s?” The bailiff was thereby forced to unlock the handcuffs.

The hearing went on. During cross-examination, Dong contended that “the search by the police was unlawful, since they intrude into Xu’s residence without a search warrant nor any proof of on-site investigation and inspection. Any evidence obtained by the police through such illegal means should not be legal and...