(Minghui.org) A Huaian City, Jiangsu Province resident is awaiting a verdict for practicing Falun Gong after she stood trial on July 13, 2021.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Li Jiuping, a 58-year-old former head nurse at the Huaian City Chinese Medicine Hospital, was arrested on August 6, 2020 after being followed by a plainclothes officer while distributing Falun Gong materials in a residential area.
Agents of the Qingjiangpu District 610 Office and police ransacked her home hours later. She refused to cooperate with the interrogation and tried to clarify the facts about Falun Gong to the police.
In the afternoon, the police brought Ms. Li to a drugstore to have her blood pressure measured. As her blood pressure was very high, the police released her on bail at around 11 p.m.
In late April 2021, Ms. Li was indicted by the Qingjiangpu District Procuratorate. The prosecutor transferred her case to the Qingjiangpu District Court on May 14. She was charged with “undermining law enforcement with a cult organization,” which is a standard pretext used by the Chinese authorities to criminalize Falun Gong practitioners.
Ms. Li entered a not guilty plea for herself when she appeared in court on July 13. She said that it is her constitutionally-protected right to practice her faith. She added that Falun Gong isn’t on the cult list published by the Ministry of Public Security, and the Chinese publication bureau lifted the ban on the publication of Falun Gong books as well. She therefore didn’t violate any law by owning or distributing Falun Gong materials.
She asked prosecutor Zhang Tao, “If I’m being prosecuted for the Falun Gong materials I had, then why not show everyone here in the courtroom what is written in those materials and they can decide for themselves whether I violated the law or not?”
Ms. Li also asked prosecutor Zhang which law’s enforcement she undermined, and how, and who were the victims. Zhang remained silent.
As Ms. Li was talking, the presiding judge, Cai Hongzhi, kept interrupting her.
Before adjourning the hearing, Cai asked Ms. Li, “Will you distribute Falun Gong materials again in the future? I need you to write a statement promising never to do it again.” Ms. Li replied that she would continue to live by Falun Gong’s principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance, not by the communist regime’s authoritarian rules. Prosecutor Zhang suggested to sentence her to eight months in prison.
Prior to the hearing, Ms. Li talked to prosecutor Zhang several times and urged him not to follow the persecution policy. She told Zhang that he would receive blessings for helping Falun Gong practitioners, while engaging in the persecution would bring him karmic retribution. Zhang said to her, “I’ve been doing this for over a decade. I’m still fine now and have never suffered any retribution!”