(Minghui.org) A 65-year-old resident in Yanshan County, Hebei Province stood trial on September 10, 2021 for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999. One of Ms. Liu Shuli’s two lawyers, Mr. Xie Yanyi, was barred from representing her in court.

The judge in charge of the case claimed that lawyer Xie failed to demonstrate his relationship with Ms. Liu, even though Xie had just turned in the representation document signed by Ms. Liu the day before the hearing. The judge also faulted the lawyer for not producing a negative molecular test of the coronavirus, but he had never informed the lawyer of the test requirement.

Ms. Liu’s husband, Mr. Liu Hongyu, wasn’t allowed to observe the hearing in the courtroom either, but had to watch the video broadcast in a separate room. 

Ms. Liu was arrested at home on December 26, 2020, and put on criminal detention the next day. After she was rejected admission by the Cangzhou City Detention Center due to high blood pressure, Liu Zhenming, the head of Yanshan County Domestic Security Office, grabbed her neck and forced her to drink an unknown drug. She was admitted to the detention center afterwards. The guards didn’t allow her family to deliver clothes to her despite the cold weather and Ms. Liu held a hunger strike to protest the persecution.

In order to collect evidence against Ms. Liu, the police twice ransacked her home and attempted to deceive her husband into testifying against her.

The Yanshan County Procuratorate transferred Ms. Liu’s case to the Huanghua City Procuratorate on April 7, 2021. The latter indicted her on May 7 and moved her case to the Huanghua City Court.

Both Yanshan County and Huanghua City are under the administration of Cangzhou City.

On the day of the hearing, plainclothes officers were stationed outside the Huanghua City Court. Liu Zhenming warned practitioners in Yancheng County to not show up at the courthouse because police were ready to arrest whoever dared to show support to Ms. Liu. 

After the judge in charge of the case denied lawyer Xie’s right to represent Ms. Liu at the hearing on September 10, he filed an urgent motion with Cangzhou Political and Legal Affairs Committee, Cangzhou City Intermediate Court, Cangzhou City Procuratorate, Huanghua City Court and Huanghua City Procuratorate. 

He also called Guo Shuxian, president of Huanghua City Court, to complain about the denial of his legal right to represent his client. Guo said that he had no knowledge of the incident and that he’d need to look into the matter. But he never followed up on his promise.

As none of the agencies ever responded to him, lawyer Xie filed complaints with Cangzhou City Supervisory Committee against the following individuals for their involvement in illegally arresting and prosecuting Ms. Liu for exercising her constitutional right to practice her faith:

Wang Yanxu, director of Yanshan County Public Security Bureau; Wang Xingguo, president of Yanshan County Procuratorate; Liu Jinsheng, president of Huanghua City Procuratorate; Li Qingshun and Sun Yunpeng, prosecutors of Huanghua City Procuratorate; Hou Xin, presiding judge of Huanghua City Court; and Hu Jianying, judge of Huanghua City Court.