Family and Friends Not Allowed to Attend Trial for Falun Gong Practitioners

(Minghui.org) Daqing City Falun Gong practitioners Mr. Zhao Chengxiao (赵成孝) and his wife Ms. Gao Xiulan (高秀兰), were detained for six months before their third trial. Both practitioners are in their 60s.

During the trial, family members suspected that the authorities mobilized plainclothes police officers to occupy the seats in the gallery to prevent the family and friends of the practitioners from attending.

The practitioners' families and friends gathered outside the Ranghulu District Court on January 15, 2015, the day of the trial.

Right before the trial started, the authorities moved the trial to a courtroom that only held about a dozen seats, compared to the original courtroom, which held about 60. Also, court officers only allowed four family members inside. The family asked about the other people sitting in the gallery, and the officials told them that they were Mr. Zhao's family. Of course, the family members recognized none of them.

The judge adjourned the court after one of the defense lawyers failed to show up. Feng Haibo (冯海波), an officer from the Domestic Security Division who arrested the couple, then waved at those sitting in the gallery, and they quickly withdrew through the back door.

Parties involved in the persecution of the two practitioners:

Li Zhuolin (李卓琳), director of Ranghulu District Court in Daqing City:[phone], [phone] (Cell)Shi Hongbin (施洪斌), leading judge of the criminal court: [phone] (Cell)Li Jinxia (李金霞), trial judge: [phone] (Cell), [phone] (Office)Sun Xuecai (孙学才), prosecutor: [phone] (Cell)Feng Haibo (冯海波), officer of Domestic Security Division in Daqing:[phone] (Home), [phone], [phone] (Office),[phone] (Cell), [phone] (Cell)