(Minghui.org) Two Xiantao City, Hubei Province, residents stood trial on October 19, 2023 for their shared faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Arrests and Indictment
Ms. Yang Dongmei and Ms. Liu Yanqiu were arrested by officers from the Huchang Township Police Station on the evening of May 7, 2023, after being reported for distributing informational materials about Falun Gong in Huchang Town, which is under the jurisdiction of Xiantao. They were taken to the Xiantao City Lockup that same day.
The Xiantao police raided Ms. Liu’s home on May 8 and refused to provide a list of confiscated items as required by law. While Ms. Liu was released on May 18, she was taken back into custody on May 24 and put on criminal detention. The police harassed her family on May 24 as well.
Ms. Yang was put on criminal detention on May 23, when her initial 15-day administrative detention expired. Both she and Ms. Liu were then transferred to the Xiantao City Detention Center. The police attempted to pressure her family to sign certain documents against her.
The Xiantao City Procuratorate approved both women’s arrests on June 20 and indicted them in late August. They were charged with “undermining law enforcement with a cult organization,” the standard pretext used by the Chinese courts to frame Falun Gong practitioners.
Prosecutor Fang Yuan ordered the two practitioners’ lawyers to persuade them to plead guilty. Upon hearing that the practitioners refused to comply and insisted on pleading not guilty, the authorities forbade their lawyers from meeting with them.
Meanwhile, as both practitioners’ family members wrote letters to various government agencies to seek justice for them, the police harassed the family members at work or at home. Wu Zhigang, director of the Hewan Community, threatened the parents of one practitioner (it is not clear whether it was Ms. Yang’s or Ms. Liu’s parents) and told them that their daughter was detained because they hired a lawyer for her.
Court Hearing
The Xiantao City Court held a hearing of the practitioners’ cases on October 19. The Xiantao City Political and Legal Affairs Committee, an extra-judiciary agency tasked with overseeing the persecution of Falun Gong, dispatched nearly 20 plainclothes officers to stay outside the court and take photos of local Falun Gong practitioners who came to support Ms. Yang and Ms. Liu. When a practitioner asked an officer why he was taking their photos, the officer pretended that he wasn’t taking photos but was on a call.
When Ms. Yang’s four family members and two Falun Gong practitioners were going through security checks, they saw officers Wang Xiaogang and Zeng Jingwen entering the gate without going through security checks. When they questioned a court staffer as to why the police could skip the security checks, the staffer replied, “They are our people and they didn’t need to go through the security check.”
Shortly after the hearing started, the same court staffer at the security checkpoint ordered the two Falun Gong practitioners who accompanied Ms. Yang’s family to leave the courtroom. She claimed that by law, criminal offenders weren’t allowed to attend the hearing. The practitioners argued that the hearing should be open to the public and that they had never committed any crime, but the staffer alleged that the fact they were still practicing Falun Gong meant they had broken the law.
To prevent other practitioners from attending hearings in the future, the court staffer ordered local street committees to call local practitioners’ family members, threatening to arrest them if they dared to attend hearings of any Falun Gong cases.
The prosecutor listed the following as prosecution evidence: 1) ten copies of Falun Gong booklets that Ms. Liu and Ms. Yang carried on their persons at the time of the arrest; 2) audio and video recordings of their arrests; 3) 21 Falun Gong books and a music player confiscated from Ms. Liu’s home; 4) a witness account, and 5) the Jingzhou City Police Department’s authentication letter indicating that the confiscated Falun Gong items were “cult materials.” However, none of the “evidence” was presented in court.
The presiding judge, Zhao Yanfen, ordered Ms. Yang to plead guilty and read a statement to renounce Falun Gong. She refused. Ms. Liu added that no law in China has ever criminalized Falun Gong.
Ms. Liu’s lawyer entered a not guilty plea for her. He said that Falun Gong has no membership and isn’t a cult. It only teaches people to be good. He emphasized that one’s spiritual belief should be protected, instead of being prosecuted. The lawyer also challenged the prosecutor to provide details about what law had allegedly been undermined by his client. The prosecutor was unable to answer.
The lawyer also pointed out that the Jingzhou City Police Department, which oversees the Xiaotao City police, had no legal authority to authenticate any prosecution evidence, as only independent, third-party forensic agencies were allowed to examine and verify prosecution evidence.
Past Persecution
Prior to their latest ordeals, both Ms. Liu and Ms. Yang have been targeted before for practicing Falun Gong. Ms. Yang was arrested on April 13, 2016 and sentenced to three years with a three-year probation. She was released after spending one year and eight months in custody.
Ms. Liu was arrested on July 19, 2009 and her husband Mr. Ouyang Zhangguo was arrested two months later on September 11, 2009. Mr. Ouyang was taken to the Tangxunhu Brainwashing Center in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei. Due to the physical torture and mental distress he experienced in detention, he suffered from declining health after being released on October 30, 2009. He passed away in 2012. He was just 38.
Mr. Ouyang Zhangguo
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