(Minghui.org) The defense counsel protested: “This is against the law, an infringement of human rights. We want to lodge a complaint!” The judge pounded his gavel while court police surrounded the defense counsel. This encounter took place in Shuangcheng Court on May 28, 2012.
Illegal Trial
On May 28, six Falun Gong practitioners were tried in Shuangcheng Court. At 8 a.m., the local area in the vicinity of the courthouse was placed under martial law. A huge fire engine truck was parked outside the main entrance, and a special grey police car was parked on the street to the right of the entrance. Police were stationed on the streets on both sides of the courthouse. It was said that many officers from the provincial police department were mobilized. At the same time, numerous plainclothes and uniformed police were stationed inside the shops and corridors of residential buildings next to the courthouse.
Another group of people, about several hundred, stood in the area surrounding the courthouse. They included heads from the city's 24 villages, who were looking for Falun Gong practitioners from their villages. If they recognized any practitioners, they immediately pointed them out, and if the practitioners resisted, they were forcefully taken away.
According to those who witnessed the trial, only one family member of each of the practitioners was allowed to enter the courtroom. They could not bring anything in, and they were thoroughly searched. They had remove their shoes, and even the bras of female family members were searched. Practitioner Jiang Xiaoyan's 82-year-old father came a long way just to see his daughter but was cruelly turned away. Another practitioner's son was not even allowed to bring his glasses in. As a result, he could not see anything clearly in courtroom. Throughout the trial, the lawyers who defended their clients on the grounds of innocence were frequently stopped by the judge striking his gavel. The reason given for the interruption was, “This has nothing to do with the case.” Two lawyers were even forcefully removed from the courtroom by police on the judge's orders. A lawyer's computer was secretly taken away by court personnel, and, after many negotiations, it was returned to him the next day.
The trial began at 9 a.m. on May 28. Ms. Jiang Xiaoyan, Mr. Tian Xiaoping, Luo Yanjie, Ms. Ge Xin, Yue Baoqing, and Mr. Kang Changjiang were brought into the courtroom. All of them were interrogated, one after another. They were only allowed to answer yes or no. If they tried to give a different answer, they were stopped by claims that their answers were “irrelevant to the case.”
When the lawyer asked the practitioner questions such as where the incident happened, why did he practice Falun Gong, what benefits were gained, and so on, the judge kept interrupting by slamming his gavel and repeatedly claiming that such questions were irrelevant. When the lawyer said his clients were innocent, he was again stopped by the judge who pounded his gavel. The same thing happened when a practitioner defended himself.
The prosecutor read the sentences. Mr. Kang Changjiang and Luo Yanjie were sentenced to seven and eight years of imprisonment respectively. Ms. Jiang Xiaoyan, Mr. Tian Xiaoping, and Yue Baoqing were sentenced to five to seven years, while Ms. Ge Xin was sentenced to three to four years. All six practitioners requested an appeal. The trial ended at 6 p.m. without stopping for a break.
The Defense Counsel Who Spoke Out for Justice
During the trial, the lawyers for five of the practitioners defended their clients earnestly according to the law. The lawyers detailed the torture that the practitioners were put through, including being hung up, shocked with high voltage electric batons, sitting in an iron chair, and brutal beatings.
In their defense arguments, the lawyers cited sufficient evidence to prove that the practitioners were innocent. However, in order to disrupt their defense, the judge repeatedly pounded his gavel, claiming that this had nothing to do with the case. In spite of such difficult circumstances, the lawyers went on with their defense in a relay style. When one was interrupted, the next one would step in.
One lawyer in his 60s voiced the sentiment of all the lawyers: “This group of kindhearted people are being subjected to inhumane slander and persecution. As lawyers, if we do not speak out for this disadvantaged group, we would have a guilty conscience and have regrets.”
A Replay of the CCP's Usual Deceit and Propaganda
On November 13 last year, 56 practitioners from Shuangcheng were arrested. Six of the 56 were tried on May 28.
Conversations with the five lawyers revealed the cause of last year's arrests and the unfairness of this trial.
According to one lawyer, an article was published last year on the overseas website Minghui.org revealed the names and contact numbers of top officials in the province's political and legal system as well as other staff. The 56 practitioners were arrested because the authorities suspected that Shuangcheng practitioners were responsible for giving out that information.
The lawyer also said: “Essentially, the case was fabricated. Because the names and numbers of officials in the political and legal system were published, those who were affected abused their power and, in revenge, retaliated, conducting illegal arrests and torture during interrogation and fabricated charges.
“There were four copies of Yue Baoqing's statement. Each one had different handwriting, yet they were all signed by one person. A DVD player was used as evidence against Jiang Xiaoyan. The evidence used against Kang Changjiang was a projector that he used in his class for students. A computer was confiscated from Tian Xiaoping's home. This was his child's and did not have anything about Falun Gong in it, but the authorities insisted that it was criminal evidence. Money confiscated from practitioners' homes was used as evidence, even though there was nothing unusual or remarkable about the amount.
Persisting in Their Belief
At the beginning of the trial, the judge told the practitioners that they had the right to request that certain individuals be excluded from the proceedings. All six practitioners asked that members of the Chinese Communist Party should be excluded, the reason being that persecuting Falun Gong practitioners serves the interests of the Party, so all Party members inherently have a conflict of interest with any case concerning Falun Gong practitioners.
The judge was caught unprepared and there was a five-minute intermission. According to the lawyers, this was unprecedented in any Falun Gong lawsuit.
Each practitioner defended him or herself in a peaceful and reasonable manner, denying the fabricated charges and evidence brought against them. All of them were tortured. Ms. Jiang Xiaoyan was hung up five times and fainted several times from the severity of the torture. She became severely anemic and her life was in danger. Mr. Kang Changjiang was viciously beaten by the police. He lost a few teeth and several of his ribs were broken. He lost sight in one of his eyes and pus oozed out of his ears.
