(Minghui.org) A 67-year-old Qinhuangdao City, Hebei Province resident stood trial on December 14, 2023 for practicing Falun Gong. Mr. Zhao Huanzhen’s two lawyers entered a not guilty plea for him. He also testified in his own defense.
Mr. Zhao was arrested on May 10, 2023, while he and four others were visiting 79-year-old Ms. Zhu Fengchun and her husband, 82-year-old Mr. Zhang Dehai to read the Falun Gong teachings together. Over 40 officers from the Qinhuangdao City Police Department, the Shanhaiguan District Police Department, and the Shanhaiguan Street Committee were present during the arrest.
Mr. Zhao has been held at the Qinhuangdao City Detention Center since. According to his family, he is experiencing persistent rectal bleeding and is very weak. They demanded his immediate release, but to no avail.
The Funing District Court held a hearing of Mr. Zhao’s case on December 14, 2023. Only two of his family members were allowed to attend the session. The presiding judge Lin Shuangquan claimed that he made the decision to protect courtroom safety. He also cited the small size of the courtroom as an excuse to restrict attendance, when there were enough seats for Mr. Zhao’s family waiting in the hallway.
Mr. Zhao’s lawyers argued that their client didn’t violate any law for visiting other law-abiding citizens and reading Falun Gong books together. It was a private gathering, which didn’t cause any harm to any individual or society at large. On the other hand, practicing Falun Gong is expressing their freedom of belief and no enacted Chinese law criminalizes Falun Gong.
The lawyers added that the prosecutor Zou Sumin accused Mr. Zhao of “undermining law enforcement with a cult organization,” but she failed to provide any evidence to support the charge. In addition, no witness accounts bore their signatures, which rendered them invalid to be included as prosecution evidence.
Judge Lin kept interrupting the lawyers and was very rude to them.
Since the persecution began in July 1999, Mr. Zhao has been detained over ten times. He was tortured in Hehuakeng Forced Labor Camp in Tangshan City, Hebei Province, and became disabled. In the past five years, he has been sentenced twice, including an 18-month term following an arrest on May 19, 2019, for talking to people about Falun Gong and another 14-month term after another arrest on August 22, 2021.
Related reports:
67-year-old Man in Serious Condition in Custody, Facing Third Prison Sentence in Five Years
The Persecution of Falun Dafa Practitioner Mr. Zhao Huanzhen from Shanhaiguan City, Hebei Province
How Practitioner Mr. Zhao Huanzhen Was Abused in Hehuakeng Labor Camp, Tangshan City, Hebei Province
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