(Minghui.org) A 56-year-old Pingdu City, Shandong Province resident stood trial in a court in Luoyang City, Henan Province on January 10, 2023, for his faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual and meditation discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Mr. Li Shihai was arrested on June 14, 2022, by police in Luoyang City for posting information about the persecution of Falun Gong on social media. Both his and his wife’s cell phones were confiscated. He was taken to Luoyang that day. His case was forwarded to the Chanhe Hui District Court on November 9.
Since 2019, the Henan Province police have gone across the country and arrested practitioners for spreading information online about the persecution of Falun Gong. In addition to Mr. Li, three more practitioners also appeared in court with him, including Mr. Cai Binyang, a 64-year-old Ganzhou City, Jiangxi Province resident, Mr. Wu Lian’an, a 51-year-old Xiamen City, Fujian Province resident and Ms. Li Huimin, a Yangquan City, Shanxi Province resident.
The police claimed that they found Mr. Li had established and administered two chat groups on the app Potato and posted information about Falun Gong. The first group had over 700 users and the second had more than 3,000 users.
Mr. Li, Mr. Cai, and Mr. Wu all pleaded not guilty. Mr. Li and Mr. Wu’s lawyers also entered a not-guilty plea for them.
Mr. Cai and Ms. Li were represented by the court-appointed lawyers, who entered a guilty plea for them. Mr. Cai’s lawyer slandered Falun Gong during the hearing.
When Mr. Li and Mr. Wu’s lawyers arrived at the court, the bailiffs initially refused to allow them to bring their cell phones, bags, or even water bottles into the court. The presiding judge, Pan Fei, claimed that the reason why he didn’t allow the water bottles was that the case involved state secrets. After 20 minutes of the standoff, the court agreed to provide water to the lawyers.
The hearing lasted from 9 a.m. to noon. The judge didn’t announce a verdict at the end of the session.
Pan Fei (潘飞), presiding judge of Chanhe Hui District Court: +86-379-63159607Zhang Xuyan (张旭艳), prosecutorLiu Wugang (刘武刚), officer, Luoyang City Police Department
(More perpetrators’ contact information is available in the original Chinese article.)
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