(Minghui.org) The prosecutor in the trial of a Falun Gong practitioner in Bairin Right Banner, Chifeng City presented evidence which was inconsistent with police video recorded at the time of her arrest.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a mind-body discipline persecuted by the communist regime since 1999.
None of the seven prosecution witnesses who alleged seeing Ms. Li Yulan pass out Falun Gong informational materials appeared in her court hearing on December 19, 2018 to accept cross-examination.
Ms. Li's lawyer noted that the time of the arrest as described by witnesses in the indictment was after she had already been seized by police outside a local village on December 25, 2017.
At Ms. Li's request, the judge played a video taken by the police during her arrest. The footage showed that Ms. Li was arrested in a field with no houses or any villagers nearby except for two plainclothes officers who dragged her into their police car.
Ms. Li testified that she was surrounded by three tall officers in plainclothes in the field leading up to the village, and that one of the officers must have shot the video as she struggled to get away. She learned later that they were agents from Bairin Right Banner Domestic Security Office.
Based on the video and Ms. Li's testimony, her lawyer questioned whether the no-show witnesses really existed.
The lawyer pointed out that the prosecutor failed to provide any solid evidence to support the charge against Ms. Li that she “undermined law enforcement,” a standard pretext used by the Chinese communist regime in its attempt to frame and imprison Falun Gong practitioners. The presiding judge commented that he would not sentence Ms. Li if there was no legal basis to charge her in the first place.
The lawyer also argued that his client had a constitutionally protected right to freedom of belief to practice Falun Gong.
Ms. Li, her lawyer, and a family member who testified in her defense all demanded her acquittal. The judge, though, adjourned the hearing without issuing a verdict.
Ms. Li has been detained at Bairin Right Banner Detention Center since her arrest. The detention center guards have shocked her with electric batons and force-fed her. She began to suffer discomfort in her heart afterwards and lost consciousness once. She also experienced difficulty breathing and was unable to fall asleep at night.
