(Minghui.org) Four employees of Huanxiling Oil Refinery of Liaohe Oil Field in Panjin City, Liaoning Province stood trial on July 18, 2023 for their shared faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Ms. Liu Yan and her younger brother, Mr. Liu Qingjiang, were handcuffed and shackled throughout the hearing. They were taken back to the Panjin City Detention Center after the session. Ms. Liu Benling and Ms. Li Chunsheng, who had been out on bail after their arrests, were released.
Five Arrested in Four Days
The four co-workers and another local practitioner were arrested over the course of four days in February this year.
Ms. Liu Yan was arrested at a private Falun Gong materials production site on February 24, 2023. [As all legal appeals channels are blocked to Falun Gong practitioners, they set up such production sites to make informational materials to expose the persecution.]
The arresting officers were from the Panjin City Police Department and the local police station. They confiscated her printer, computer, Falun Gong books, informational materials, and other valuables. Her brother was arrested shortly afterwards, though it was unclear where he was arrested.
The siblings were both taken to the Panjin City Detention Center, where they remain.
Ms. Li was arrested at home on February 25, 2023 and released on bail the next morning.
Ms. Liu Hong and Ms. Liu Benling were seized from their respective homes on the afternoon of February 27, 2023. The police chief and a captain from the Panjin City Police Department led the arrests.
The two women were taken to the police department. Ms. Liu Benling was handcuffed, body searched, and had her picture taken. The police also forced her to sign some paperwork and put a tracking device on her right wrist. She was then brought to an interrogation room and questioned by the police. They released her on bail at around 4 a.m. the next morning.
Ms. Liu Hong was released on bail in early April 2023. It is unclear whether she had been tried at the time of writing, while the other four practitioners were tried jointly in July.
The Court Hearing
Someone from the local procuratorate showed up at Ms. Liu Benling’s home on June 27, 2023 and drove her to the procuratorate to sign her indictment. Three days later, the local court summoned her and gave her a copy of the indictment.
It is unclear when Ms. Li, Ms. Liu Yan, and her brother were indicted.
The four practitioners appeared in the Panjin City Court on July 18, 2023. Ms. Liu Benling refused to sit in the defendant’s seat as instructed by judge Zhang Xintong. She refused to do so because she didn’t break any law by practicing Falun Gong and was thus not a defendant. The bailiff then brought another chair for her to sit down.
Zhang asked if Ms. Liu needed a court-appointed lawyer and she declined. She then testified in her own defense. She pointed out that no enacted law in China criminalizes Falun Gong, and that the ban on Falun Gong publications had long been lifted in 2011.
Ms. Liu further said that the entire prosecution process was illegal, from her arrest to home raid, from indictment to her trial. No evidence against her was presented in court, nor was any of the prosecution’s witnesses summoned to court to accept cross examination.
After her defense statement, Ms. Liu refused to answer the judge’s questions.
Ms. Liu Yan also defended her innocence.
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