(Minghui.org) Afraid that people would attend the hearing, Gulin Court officials attempted to transfer the scheduled court appearance of three Falun Gong practitioners to a detention center on July 12, 2012. It was learned that the detention center officials refused to let them hold the hearing there. A judge surnamed Yang said there would too many observers in the court proceedings, and used this as an excuse, telling the practitioners' attorneys that the session would be adjourned and the trial postponed.
The three practitioners are Mr. Shu Anqing from Luzhou, Ms. Zhang Ziqin and Mr. Luo Zhenggui from Gulin. They were arrested on November 10, 2011, in Yutang Town in the Longmatan District, Luzhou City. They were held in the Gulin Detention Center for eight months and then transferred to the Naxi Detention Center in Luzhou.
Gulin Court officials were set to try the three practitioners in the Naxi Court on July 12, 2012. Several people had received invitations to be present in the courtroom where Beijing lawyers would defend the practitioners. They went to the Naxi Courthouse but were told that the trial had been moved to the Naxi Detention Center.
Ms. Zhang Ziqin's mother, grandson, son and son-in-law, who had all come from Gulin a day ahead of the scheduled hearing, along with Mr. Shu Anqing's mother and son and relatives, waited outside the entrance to the detention center in the rain.
Two lawyers from Beijing and more than 200 people, including many Falun Gong practitioners, also waited outside the detention center. The trial was supposed to begin around 9:00 a.m., but by 11:00 a.m. nothing had happened. Falun Gong practitioners shouted loudly, “Falun Dafa is good!”
Naxi 610 Office agents led by Deng Song and Zhang Hua took photos and videotaped whoever came to attend the court session. Armed police officers were stationed on either side of the entrance, and plainclothes special agents walked among the crowd to record and take photos as they pretended to make cell phone calls. A big van loaded with uniformed personnel from the judicial system was parked nearby. They took photos and videotaped the people waiting outside the detention center.
Shortly before noon, a female judge surnamed Yang from Gulin announced that there were too many people who wanted to attend the trial. Using this as an excuse, she told the lawyers that the session would be adjourned and the trial postponed until three days later. The lawyers said that they came at the designated time according to the written agreement, and asked Judge Yang if she would reimburse their round-trip tickets. Yang said, “We will not.”
Around 11:55 a.m., the detention center official-in-charge notified the people outside via a loudspeaker: “The presiding judges are all gone, and today's hearing is cancelled. Everyone, leave.” Many in the crowd expressed great disapproval of the sudden cancellation. Ms. Zhang Ziqin's 80-year-old mother said, “We have come from so far, and you told us to come but now you cancel the hearing. You just do whatever you want!” The officer-in-charge said, “This is not our business. This is a detention center, and court hearings are not conducted here. You can go and complain to whoever informed you to come.”
People learned from the lawyers that one of the main reasons that the hearing wasn't held was that the detention center refused to agree to try the Falun Gong practitioners there.
