Practitioner Exercises Right to Have Communist Party Members Excused; Judge Adjourns Trial

(Minghui.org) The presiding judge at the Maoming Intermediate Court adjourned an appeal hearing on February 20, 2014, shortly after Ms. Liang Guifen, a Falun Gong practitioner and the appellant, requested to exercise her right to have all present Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members excused from the court session.

The attorney, who pleaded not guilty on Ms. Liang's behalf, stated that a Falun Gong persecution case generally falls in the category of belief conflict, with the CCP as the plaintiff and the Falun Gong practitioners as the defendant. The judge is not an impartial party, as he or she is either a CCP member or its supporter.

Ms. Liang was sentenced to three and a half years in prison on December 27, 2013, at the Maogang District Court in Maoming City, Guangdong Province. She appealed her sentence on December 31.

After the court session was over, Ms. Liang's family, attorney and neighbors visited the Maoming Procuratorate. The relatives presented the family difficulty of Ms. Liang's 89-year-old mother-in-law being home alone and needing care. Ms. Liang's husband and son are both Falun Gong practitioners and detained in prison.

However, two staff members at the Appeals Office questioned them as if they were troublemakers and did not appear to accept their input.

Ms. Liang Guifen resides in Poxin Township, Maogang District, Maoming City, Guangdong Province. She was arrested by local police on November 2, 2013. Also arrested were 13 other Falun Gong practitioners who were studying Falun Gong books at her house.

Her husband Li Kun was arrested in 2002 and sentenced to 14 years in prison. Her son Li Xinhua was sentenced to five years and is now detained in the Sihui Prison in Guangdong Province.

Parties Involved in the Persecution:

Maogang District Procuratorate: [phone] Huang Haibin (黃海濱), prosecutor: [phone] (office) Liang Youbin (梁友斌), presiding judge of Maogang District Court: [phone] (office) Maoming Intermediate Court: [phone] Huang Changwen(黄昌文), presiding judge of Maoming Intermediate Court: [phone] (office), [phone] (mobile) Li Nan (李楠), judge of Maoming Intermediate Court: [phone] (office), [phone] (mobile)