(Minghui.org) A 66-year-old Qixia City, Shandong Province, woman stood trial on December 19, 2022, for her faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999. She refuted the prosecutor for wrongfully charging her and the police for fabricating information that was used against her.
Ms. Lin Jianping was arrested on February 6, 2022, in front of the Qixia City Police Department for talking to an officer about Falun Gong. After the Mouping Detention Center denied her admission due to her health, she was released and put on six months of residential surveillance. The Qixia City Procuratorate on October 21 charged her with “undermining law enforcement with a cult organization,” the standard pretext used to criminalize Falun Gong in China.
Ms. Lin filed complaints against Yan Zhigao, head of the Domestic Security Office, and prosecutor Li Hongjun. After Yan found out about the complaints, he threatened her on December 13 that she wasn’t allowed to write letters while on residential surveillance, and that she must seek his permission if she had to write letters.
During Ms. Lin’s hearing at the Qixia City Court on December 19, none of the police officers involved in her case, including Yan and Lin Shouguang, who handled her case, appeared in court.
The judge asked the clerk to play the surveillance video of Ms. Lin being brought to the Zhuangyuan Police Station. In the video, Ms. Lin was wearing handcuffs. She demanded that the police show the legal basis for arresting her, but the police didn’t respond.
Another video clip shown during the hearing was the police ransacking her home at around midnight. The police forced her husband to ask his neighbor to be a witness. When her husband said he didn’t want to disturb his neighbor, the police threatened to call the subdivision security.
The next video clip was Ms. Lin sitting in a chair at the police station around the time of the home raid. Yet the police stated in her case document that she was present during the raid and that she refused to sign the list of confiscated items.
Ms. Lin asked the judge to show the Falun Gong items taken away from her. The judge said the prosecutor didn’t have them.
The judge turned to the prosecutor and asked if he had any questions for Ms. Lin. The prosecutor replied that since she refused to plead guilty, he would skip asking her questions.
Instead, Ms. Lin asked the prosecutor, “Since you charged me with ‘undermining law enforcement’ and ‘delivering Falun Gong materials to the police station and procuratorate,' why don’t you exhibit some of the materials I delivered and read them out loud in court? Also, of all the laws in China, which one’s enforcement did I undermine?” The prosecutor referred the questions to the judge and remained silent.
The prosecutor said to Ms. Lin, “Didn’t you admit that those materials were yours?”
“They are mine. But you didn’t explain how I undermined law enforcement with those materials.” Ms. Lin demanded that the judge and prosecutor return all the items confiscated from her.
Ms. Lin added, “According to the law, a piece of evidence cannot be used for prosecution if it isn’t corroborated or cross-examined in court. If you can’t present the evidence in court, then you can’t use that to charge me. In addition, no law has ever criminalized Falun Gong in China. Without the legal basis, you can’t accuse me of violating the law for practicing Falun Gong. The law can only punish people for committing crimes, not for what’s on their mind.”
Ms. Li also pointed out multiple fabrications of information by the police in her case document, including listing her birth year as 1960, when she was born in 1962. She has an associate’s degree, but the police stated that her highest education level was middle school.
While recording a deposition, a young male officer gave her a piece of paper, which stated that she understood it after reading it for three minutes. She questioned the officer that she hadn’t read it and why he said that she understood the content. As she refused to sign it, the police made up more answers in her deposition and had her husband sign the document.
The case document indicated a female officer named “Zou Yunna” interrogated Ms. Lin. But Ms. Lin said she didn’t see any female officer from the moment she was arrested to the time she was released. When she demanded to use the restroom, the police couldn’t even find a female officer to go with her. The male officer ended up standing outside of the restroom when she used it.
In addition, the police also claimed that Ms. Lin was present during her home raid. Before the police left for her home, they arranged for several officers to watch her in the station. Her neighbor who was forced to witness the raid was terrified.
Last but not least, no officers signed the evidence corroboration certificate. Although no one ever gave her a urine or drug test, the police indicated they had in the case document. The name of the officer who signed the document was fake.
In her final statement, Ms. Lin said the entire prosecution process against her had violated the law. It damaged her reputation and disrupted the daily lives of her, her family, and her neighbor. With her family worrying about her all the time, their job performance and health were affected. She also had to spend much time and energy thinking about how to defend herself. She said that it was the police, the prosecutor, and the judge who truly undermined the enforcement of law and engaged in obstruction of justice.
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