(Minghui.org) Ms. Miao Wenchao was arrested on April 25, 2014 simply because she practices Falun Gong. Her family members firmly believe that her arrest was illegal, and they refused to sign the arrest warrant issued by the authorities. They hired two human rights lawyers to defend Ms. Miao in court.
The lawyers, Mr. Zhao Yonglin and Mr. Wang Guangyi, carefully checked the evidence provided by the Procuratorate before the December 5 trial.
During the trial, the prosecutor hurriedly read through a lengthy list of evidence. When she reached page 22, a witness testimony against Ms. Miao, lawyer Zhao interrupted her, noting that his version of the list was not the same as the one the prosecutor had read. The prosecutor made no attempt to explain the discrepancy. Major inconsistencies between the two copies indicated that the testimony was added after the first copy was provided to the defense.
When attorney Zhao requested the presiding judge to summon the witness to the court to validate the alleged testimony, the judge refused to do so.
After the trial, an insider told Ms. Miao's family that the witness testimony had been fabricated and added later to bolster the prosecutor's case. That was why the presiding judge refused to summon the witness.
Both lawyers and Ms. Miao herself declared during the trial that practicing Falun Gong was exercising her freedom of belief granted by the Chinese Constitution, and that it was illegal to arrest a person for practicing or promoting her belief.
Perpetrators' Contact Information:Wang Yanpeng (王彦鹏), prosecutor for the Daoli District Procuratorate in Harbin City: 86-451-84353053 (office)Jian Cheng, presiding judge of the Daoli District Court: 86-451-84869225 (office)
