(Minghui.org) When Ms. Zhang Suqin stood trial on February 17, 2023, for talking to people about Falun Gong, the judge frequently interrupted her lawyer as he entered a not-guilty plea for her, before removing him from the courtroom.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Zhang, of Xinxiang City, Henan Province, was arrested on June 14, 2022, after being reported by a villager who was hostile toward Falun Gong. The police ransacked her home and then released her on bail.
Ms. Zhang was summoned by the Huixian County Court in early February 2023. She was taken back into custody at Xinxiang City Detention Center on the same day.
When Ms. Zhang appeared in court on February 17, her lawyer refuted the charges against her, “undermining law enforcement with a cult organization,” a standard pretext used to criminalize Falun Gong. The judge repeatedly ordered the lawyer to stop talking. As he insisted on finishing the defense argument, the judge ordered the bailiffs to remove him from the courtroom.
Without her lawyer, Ms. Zhang entered a not-guilty plea for herself. She said that she took up Falun Gong to become a good person and that she broke no law. She asked the prosecutor which law she'd undermined and what was the legal basis for labeling Falun Gong a cult. The prosecutor had no reply.
He Yong (何勇), president of Huixian City Procuratorate: +86-373-6230700Zhang Yinghui (张莹辉), prosecutor of Huixian City Procuratorate: +86-13903809394, +86-373-6230165Lu Tianjiao (卢天娇), prosecutor of Huixian City Procuratorate: +86-13849388247, +86-373-6230168Liu Zhifei (刘志飞), president of Huixian City Court: +86-373-6292400, +86-373-6256213
(More perpetrators’ contact information is available in the original Chinese article.)