Two Anhui Residents Stand Trial for Their Faith

(Minghui.org) Mr. Wang Dunlong and his sister-in-law, Ms. Hu Wenye, stood trial on November 12, 2021, for their faith in Falun Gong.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Mr. Wang, 63, of Hefei City, Anhui Province, was arrested at home with his wife Ms. Hu Xueye and her sister Ms. Hu Weny on July 21, 2020. Their Falun Gong books, computer, printer, and informational materials they had printed at home were confiscated.

The three practitioners were targeted after being reported for talking to people about Falun Gong in February and March 2020.

While Ms. Hu Xueye was cleared of charges and released after 13 days of detention, the police submitted the case against her husband and sister to the Shushan District Procuratorate.

The Shushan District Court initially scheduled a hearing on May 14, 2021, but later canceled it due to a local coronavirus outbreak.

During the rescheduled hearing on November 12, the practitioners’ lawyer Ji Zhongjiu demanded that prosecutor Li Weihua be recused from the case. Ji said that the prosecutor had failed to verify the information submitted by the police. As one example, the date of the practitioners’ arrest was recorded as July 22, 2019, one year before it actually took place. Additionally, the police did not follow legal procedures when they issued the practitioners’ arrest warrant more than a month after their arrests.

Both the judge and the prosecutor appeared to be nervous as they listened to the lawyer. The judge asked him, “Why didn’t you tell me about this earlier and why do you have to bring it up now?”

The lawyer responded, “There is a procedure for bringing up such issues in a hearing. I don’t see that I did anything wrong.”

The judge remained silent for a minute before calling a recess. Ten minutes later, he declined the lawyer’s request to recuse the prosecutor.

In his own defense, Mr. Wang maintained that he didn’t break any law by practicing Falun Gong, that no law in China has ever deemed practicing Falun Gong a crime. He added that the Falun Gong books and informational materials confiscated from his home were for his personal use. He said he’d never done anything to try to overthrow the government, that he’d only informed people of the facts of how the communist regime persecutes his faith.

The prosecutor twice asked the judge to silence Mr. Wang, accusing him of promoting Falun Gong in the courtroom.

Lawyer Ji entered a not guilty plea for Mr. Wang and his sister-in-law. He said that it was illegal for the police to ransack Mr. Hu’s home without securing a warrant. He emphasized that the Falun Gong literature confiscated from Mr. Hu’s home didn’t cause any harm to society and shouldn’t be used as evidence against Mr. Hu and his sister-in-law.

He also said that the testimony provided by witness Zhang Xiang wasn’t accurate. Zhang claimed that he saw a man about 45 years old distributing Falun Gong materials, but Mr. Wang was 63. Another witness, Xin Naiyun, said the two women he saw were wearing masks. If that was true, how could he have recognized the Hu sisters if he didn’t know them before?

Neither the judge nor the prosecutor responded. None of the witnesses appeared to accept cross-examination either.

The judge then turned to Ms. Hu and asked, “Are you pleading guilty? Are you still going to practice Falun Gong?” Ms. Hu didn’t answer.

The lawyer said, “Religious freedom is a basic right protected by the constitution. You cannot order anyone to stop practicing Falun Gong. I demand that you acquit my clients and release them.”

After moments of silence, the judge asked Mr. Wang, “Do you have anything to add?”

Mr. Wang said, “I’ve been practicing Falun Gong for 27 years. Why do I continue to do it? It’s because it’s real and it’s truly good! Before I took up Falun Gong, I practiced other qigong, but none of them had the healing power of Falun Gong. To give you one example, I was diagnosed with gallbladder polyp lesions in 2014. With no medical intervention, I completely recovered by practicing Falun Gong. If the communist regime didn’t persecute it, I believe there would be more people practicing Falun Gong and benefiting from it. I hope that you can listen to your own conscience when you pass judgment. In ancient times, one would be blessed if they gave food to a Buddhist monk. You will also be blessed if you can protect Falun Gong practitioners and don’t follow the communist regime to do evil.”

Perpetrators’ contact information:
Li Weihua (李卫华), prosecutor, Shushan District Procuratorate: [phone], [phone]Sun Yu (孙钰), judge, Shushan District Court: [phone], [phone]Wu Xiaoshui (吴小水), presiding judge, Shushan District Court: [phone], [phone]Yao Jun (姚军), head of Yaohai District Police Department: [phone]

(More perpetrators’ contact information is available in the original Chinese article.)

Related report:

Anhui Man and His Wife’s Sister Face Trial for Their Shared Faith in Falun Gong