On the Trial of “Publishing Falun Gong Materials” in Wuhan, China: An Inside Story

The trial of those people involved in publishing Falun Gong materials finally began behind a veil.á The whole process is a drama. The script was finished with the cooperation among the court, the procuratorate, and the security bureau under supervision of a leader of the central government. What is known to the public is that the case began from July 21. But in a show of CCTV, it was called the May 14 Case, which was the name used by the Security Ministry. From prosecution to the trial at the court, from collecting evidence to lawyers, as to what each should say and what should be said, all were made up beforehand and approved. Since the case involved too many people, to avoid catching peoples attention and leaking out the secrets, audience was limited. It was called a small-scale trial. Journalists like us were not invited. Only news agencies like CCTV and Xinhua news agency would be invited because they could read the mind of the authorities and would know how to edit.

áI am a journalist. On December 23, on my way to work, I found the road was blocked near Wuhan Intermediate Peoples Court. No cars were allowed to pass. I felt something had happened and went up to have a look. I saw many police cars parked at the roadside; policemen were driving vendors off on both sides of the road to stand behind the sign of curfew. The policemen told the crowd not to watch. I paged for a friend who works in the Court, and asked him what was happening. He said the case of publishing Falun Gong materials would be tried. I asked him whether he could let me in to witness the case. He said he could not because it was not an open trial. He asked me to leave quickly and said there were many policemen in plain clothes around and everything would be videotaped. Then I saw there was a commotion in the crowd so I went over there. I saw a man scolding an old man loudly, and the old man was begging for something with tears. I knew the man was a plain-clothed policeman. When the policeman left, I heard a vendor saying that they were putting up a show. He saw the police put up the notice of an open trial but at the same time they imposed the curfew. He also said that most people on the street were plain-clothed policemen and he saw them greeting one another, and many came down from those cars. He said he could not do any business that day. I wished to hear more but was afraid of getting into trouble, so I only listened quietly in the crowd. I found that most people were not Falun Gong practitioners but relatives of defendants. They were waiting there hoping to have a glimpse of their relatives whom they had not seen since they had been arrested. The accused were not taken out until the afternoon.á As I discovered that many plain-clothed policemen had left, I paged for my friend in the court again and was told that all the accused had been taken away. No verdict was pronounced.

áI did not know much about Falun Gong before. Unexpectedly Falun Gong became an overnight focus of the world. I understand that some individuals in central authorities are carrying out a new trend of class struggle (a communist slogan in Cultural Revolution). I began to search for books about Falun Gong to see what is the magic about it that has attracted millions of people. At last I found the book Zhuan Falun. Although it was old, it was tidy. I went through it a few times, finding out nothing against the communist party or the government, and nothing evil in it at all. The public security bureau has issued a notice that no one should post any signs or words about Falun Dafa in public. I wondered whether it was a mistake. What is harmful about this? Why does the public security bureau care about this? On the contrary, there are full of pornographic posters and ads of curing venereal diseases on the streets; there are all kinds of sex or murder stories in magazines. These are all allowed by the public security bureau, but a spiritual practice such as Falun Dafa that advocates clean living and morality is not allowed to be practiced or publicized.
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One day of late October, I got to know my friend working in the court by chance when I was assigned to report on the case of Falun Gong. He partook investigating the case of publishing Falun Gong materials. At first he only briefed the progress of the case; gradually as we became friends, he revealed the inside story of the case in our casual conversation.

Question: The case of Falun Gong is a big one in the whole country. How much money was involved in it?
Answer:á It is not determined yet since it involves too many aspects and too many people and it took such a long time.áá Anyway it is less than what was reported.á

Q: That means the CCTVs report has been exaggerated?
A: Propaganda is always a bit exaggerated.

Q: What role does Ms Xu Xianglan, the head of Falun Gong Wuhan Voluntary Coaching Station, play?
A: Actually she has nothing to do with publishing books. However, the books were bought by Falun Gong practitioners; when the evidence was submitted to the Procuratorate, it had already been decided that she would be accused as the vice president of that company. This way, she can then be charged with making profit.á

Q: Is there any evidence to show that Xu was indeed the vice president of the company?
A: No.

Q: Is there any evidence showing that Xu had made profit by selling Falun Gong materials?
A:á No. However, as the case is concerned with combating the evil cult, it has not been tried till today.

Q: In this case, was Li Hongzhi given any money?
A: It was said that Wang Hansheng gave him USD $5,000.

Q: Is there any evidence for that?
A: No. It was said that it was paid in Singapore.

Q: I have seen that report produced by the show called Focus on CCTV. In the report, Wang Hansheng said in 1998 before they went to Singapore, they heard from people from overseas that Li Hongzhi had a difficult life abroad, so they took all the five thousand dollars they had. When I watched the show I wondered how come Wang had only five thousand dollars left since he was accused of having earned millions. What happened to the rest of the money? If millions has been made by selling Falun Gong books, five thousand dollars was too little money for Li Hongzhi as the author. That cannot indicate that Li Hongzhi was accumulating wealth.
A: Yes, it was too little money.

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Q: Did Li Hongzhi ever receive his copyright royalties for his books published in China mainland?
A: He had been paid RMB 20,000 (roughly $2,500) from the Broadcasting and TV Press before 1996.

Q: Did he receive any other money for his books sold in China afterwards?
A: There is no evidence.

Q: Was the Falun Gong Society ever paid?
A: Actually since 1996, Falun Gong Society has not got involved in publishing materials following Li Hongzhis advice. They went to Wang Hansheng who did not practice Falun Gong. They gave Wang the right of publishing books and they were never involved in publication and selling of the books. The Falun Gong Society was said to be paid some tens of thousands of RMB, but that was because the Falun Gong Society had provided Wang with many books before. And there was no evidence for this either.

Q: I am afraid that all has been fabricated. What about witnesses?
A: Do not worry about it. It is the times of economics. Anything can be exchanged. You may have watched reports of Peoples Daily and CCTV last month. A Falun Gong practitioner did not change his attitude in the beginning. At that time, he needed an apartment urgently. Later, his work unit provided him with an apartment, then he give up Falun Gong all at once. This is only an example. There are many means. Those witnesses are all Falun Gong practitioners. One will be sent to jail if one does not bear witness to a case. Of course you and I need not worry. The security bureau will sort these out.á

Q: According to regulations of illegal publication, there seems to be a rule of either fine or sentence (but not both). Since the government has confiscated Wan Hanshengs property, he should not be sentenced?
A:á Actually Wang has fulfilled all required legal procedures for publishing Falun Gong books. This time we will deal with another case in which the defendant is charged with improperly assisting Wang to obtain approval for publication. Peoples Daily also mentioned examining holes in approving publications. It seems that CCTV also played this report. They actually referred to this case.

Q: As to those ordinary employees of the company, they did not make money through this, why were they sentenced to imprisonment?
A: It is because the case involves publishing Falun Gong materials; otherwise they would not be sentenced. In former similar cases of publications, ordinary clerks were not dealt with. However, in this case, these people will be sentenced to imprisonment or be sent to labor camps without trial. This is authoritys instruction.

Q: Would the accused and their relatives object in court?
A: It does not matter. The lawyers laid out the rules. The relatives who applied for a defending lawyer should not be Falun Gong practitioner; otherwise their case would not be handled. In fact, the lawyers are not supposed to see the accused. Now the Falun Gong issue is being dealt with as a political movement. Their relatives dare not object. The whole process is a well-directed drama. The drama is supervised by a certain leader from the Central government, with the cooperation of the court, the procuratorate, and the security bureau. From prosecution to the trial at the court, from collecting evidence to lawyers, as to what each should say and what should be said, all were made up beforehand and approved.

á(December 26, 1999)