(Minghui.org) An 85-year-old woman in Maoming City, Guangdong Province, was indicted on October 25, 2023 for her faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
The Maonan District Procuratorate charged Ms. Liao Yuying with “using a cult organization to undermine law enforcement,” a standard pretext used by the communist regime to frame and imprison Falun Gong practitioners.
No law in China criminalizes Falun Gong or labels it as a cult. Ms. Liao’s practice of Falun Gong caused no harm to any individual or society at large, much less undermined law enforcement. As such, she hired a lawyer to represent her after her case was forwarded to the Maonan District Court.
The lawyer went to the court on November 7, 2023, to review her case file. Judge Chen Lei appeared shocked that Ms. Liao had hired a lawyer. He questioned the lawyer, “Have you met with her? Where did you sign her power of attorney?”
The lawyer asked Chen if he’d like to summon Ms. Liao to court to verify that she had entrusted the lawyer to represent her. Chen said no but still did not allow the lawyer to review Ms. Liao’s case file. The lawyer demanded to know what legal basis was there to deny him access to his client’s case file. Chen replied that he had to call his supervisor to seek permission first. The lawyer reminded him that there is no law that says a judge needs permission to allow defense lawyers to review case files. Chen then gave the lawyer access to Ms. Liao’s case file.
The lawyer went to see Ms. Liao after he left the court. Her son, who happened to be there, said that the court called him that morning and asked if he paid for his mother’s legal fee. He did. The lawyer told him that it was illegal for the court to ask him such a question.
Ms. Liao hired a second lawyer on November 13, 2023. [It’s unclear whether the first lawyer was still representing her]. The new lawyer visited her that day. He noted that she used a bench [she did not have a walker] to help her move out of her bedroom to meet with him in the living room. He couldn’t believe that the authorities were going all out to seek prosecution of such an elderly and frail woman.
Ms. Liao recounted how the police first arrested her on April 21, 2022 and released her on bail hours later due to her poor health, only to harass her numerous times in their attempt to take her back into custody. They took her for physical examinations on multiple occasions, but she was always found to be in poor health and unfit for detention. She was most recently taken for a physical examination on August 15, 2023, and the results still showed she had high blood pressure.
The constant harassment resulted in Ms. Liao’s health declining. She had been suffering from pain in her back and leg since the police first targeted her in 2022, and she could not walk or straighten her back. The night before the lawyer’s visit, her back and leg hurt especially bad and she couldn’t sleep for the whole night. She had also lost her appetite.
The lawyer expressed that he’d do his best to seek justice for her. He later reviewed her case file and noted that her health exam reports were not present. He returned to the court, and judge Chen said they just did not have the reports. The lawyer countered that the police said in the case file that they took Ms. Liao for physical examinations multiple times. Chen then allowed the lawyer to take a photo of the reports.
According to a credible source, the case against Ms. Liao was decided by Yuan Gujie, secretary of the Guangdong Province Political and Legal Affairs Committee (PLAC), an extra-judicial agency tasked with overseeing the persecution of Falun Gong. Prior to her appointment as the PLAC secretary, Yuan served as the mayor and the Party secretary of Maoming City from May 2019 to June 2022.
Related reports:
85-year-old Bedridden Woman Repeatedly Harassed for Her Faith in Falun Gong
Bedridden 85-year-old Woman Not Spared in the Persecution of Falun Gong
84-year-old Woman Harassed for Her Faith, the Fourth Time in a Year
Falun Gong Practitioners in Their 80s Harassed for Their Faith
84-year-old Woman Arrested and Had Her Home Ransacked
Police Break into Elderly Woman’s Home and Change Her Lock Without Her Consent
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