(Minghui.org) A father and daughter in Shenyang were tried on December 6 for filing a criminal complaint against former Chinese dictator Jiang Zemin for ordering the persecution of Falun Gong. The defense lawyers entered a not-guilty plea for them, as no law in China criminalizes Falun Gong.
The lawyers also questioned the trial's irregularities, and both defendants testified against the police for extracting confessions through torture.
Mr. Sun Dekun, his wife Ms. Xing Anmei, and their daughter Ms. Sun Yingying were first arrested in 2013 for refusing to renounce Falun Gong. They filed a criminal complaint against Jiang in late 2015, only to be arrested again while eating out on April 14, 2016. The couple’s son, Mr. Sun Yingnan, who does not practice Falun Gong, was arrested that night when the police raided their family home.
The son was released on May 13, and the daughter was placed under house arrest. Ms. Xing Anmei was beaten so badly that her teeth were knocked out. She had trouble swallowing and experienced dizziness, fatigue, heart palpitations and nausea. She was diagnosed with hypokalemia. Her husband’s asthma also worsened due to the abuse that he suffered in detention.
The two defense lawyers argued that Mr. Sun Dekun, his wife, and his daughter should have been tried jointly, given the nature of their arrests. They questioned why the wife was removed from the case at the last minute.
The prosecutor claimed that they were still waiting for the wife’s medical examination results. He did not answer when the lawyers asked why it took so long to get the results, given that the examination was done on November 7.
The lawyers argued that the authorities feared that Mr. Sun and his wife would corroborate each other in testifying against the police were they tried jointly.
The prosecution evidence included Mr. Sun Dekun’s and his wife’s fingerprints on a bulletin board with messages about lawsuits against Jiang Zemin. The prosecutor asserted that the fingerprints were enough to show that Mr. Sun and his wife had produced the bulletin board.
Mr. Sun argued that the fingerprints couldn’t prove that he and his wife made the board, as viewers of the board would have left their fingerprints, as well.
The prosecutor referenced an eyewitness named Zhao Dianjun, who claimed to have seen Mr. Sun and his wife hang up the board. There was no other identifying information of the witness, nor did he appear in court.
The indictment stated that Zhao said he didn’t know Mr. Sun and his wife. When the lawyers questioned how he knew the names of the couple, the prosecutor did not answer.
Mr. Sun also testified to how the police covered his head and beat him while in the police station. Two of his teeth were knocked out, and he showed one of them in court.
The lawyers added that Ms. Xing told them that she gave self-incriminating statements after being badly beaten by police.
Ms. Sun Yingying said that her brother walked with a limp and appeared dazed when he was released. He didn’t dare to step out of his home and had trouble functioning. He told his sister that he was brutally beaten by police.
Ms. Sun was summoned to the Dadong District Procuratorate on June 28. An official surnamed Liu threatened her, “If you don’t cooperate with us, you’ll be taken back into custody.” Out of fear, she gave the “confessions” that the police demanded. She had recurring nightmares after this episode.
Liu also promised to release her mother if she complied with his demand. Ms. Sun and her brother filed a request for their mother’s medical parole, but Liu said he was not in charge of the matter.