(Minghui.org) The Qingdao City Court held a hearing for a woman arrested in June for practicing Falun Gong in a makeshift courtroom inside the Pudong Detention Center.
Ms. Chu Lianping's lawyer entered a not-guilty plea for her during the hearing on November 29, 2018. He argued that she didn't violate any law for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline based on the values of “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance” that has been subjected to 19 years of persecution by the communist regime. The lawyer demanded acquittal for his client.
The judge adjourned the hearing without announcing a verdict.
Ms. Chu, 62, was arrested on June 8 ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit held in Qingdao on June 9-10. Many practitioners across Shandong Province were arrested and harassed in May and June before the summit.
Ms. Chu initially refused to open the door when the police came to arrest her, fearing that her autistic son might be scared by the police brutality.
The police, however, dispatched more officers to her home and forcibly broke in. Four officers seized her arms from behind and pushed her to the ground. She was suffocating.
The officers ransacked her home and brought her to the detention center. Large bruises began to appear on her neck, arms, and back.
Ms. Chu suffered from high blood pressure during the six months that she was detained. The detention center recommended medical parole due to their concern about her health, but the police insisted on keeping her incarcerated and made a formal charge against her.
Her family frequented the police station to demand her release but to no avail. Her 30-year-old autistic son is now in deep despair because of her detention.
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Mother Arrested for Her Faith, Autistic Son Asks for Her Return
