(Minghui.org) Two people in Luannan County were indicted on June 12 this year for practicing and spreading information about Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline persecuted in China since 1999. One faced trial two weeks later; the other awaits a court date after his lawyer thwarted the court’s attempt to try him hours after he agreed to represent the practitioner.
Mr. Yang Xiaochuan met a lawyer on the morning on June 26 and asked the lawyer to represent him. Not long after his lawyer left, staff from the Luannan Court arrived at the local detention center to announce that Mr. Yang was to be immediately taken to court to face trial.
Mr. Yang's lawyer and family, after learning about the trial from other sources, rushed to the courthouse and asked the trial be postponed. Zhang Jiangong, the judge who handled the case, only just agreed to move it to that afternoon. The lawyer quickly talked to Mr. Yang about his case and reviewed the case files in the court while he continued to find ways to delay the trial. Judge Zhang eventually agreed to further delay the trial to a later date.
The other practitioner, Ms. Zhang Shuqing, was tried the next day on June 27. The court initially denied her family entry to the courtroom.
Arrests
Mr. Yang and Ms. Sun were arrested on March 14 this year when they distributed Falun Gong literature and told others about the persecution. They were put in the County Detention Center. Mr. Yang was released ten days later, while Ms. Sun was transferred to Tangshan City Detention Center and her case filed with the County Procuratorate.
Mr. Yang was arrested again on May 19 when he was renewing his ID at the local police station. The county domestic security agency told his family that the arrest was planned, as they intended to press criminal charges against him.
