(Minghui.org) An Anshan City, Liaoning Province resident was sentenced to three years around November 2024 for her faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Ms. Zhang Xu used to be the English Department head at the Anshan City No. 45 Middle School. She won numerous awards for her outstanding performance in teaching and mentoring students. She also won a province-level research award for a pedagogy project in 2006.
Ms. Zhang’s latest arrest took place on March 8, 2024, after a surveillance camera captured her getting off a bus in Tiexi District, Anshan City. The Gonghe Police Station officers turned her over to the Economic Development Zone Police Department, which then took her to the Anshan City First Women’s Detention Center that night.
The Lishan District Procuratorate indicted Ms. Zhang at an unknown date and forwarded her case to the Lishan District Court on June 23. Wang Yihan, the presiding judge, set a court date for July 4 and assigned a lawyer to represent Ms. Zhang. She declined to use the court-appointed lawyer as he was instructed to enter a guilty plea for her.
Ms. Zhang’s family hired a lawyer from Beijing to defend her innocence. The lawyer travelled to Anshan on July 9 to submit the power of attorney document, but judge Wang refused to accept it. The lawyer argued that she had no legal basis to do so. Wang eventually relented after three and a half hours of standoff and also agreed to postpone the hearing to October 17. She, however, warned the lawyer that the court needed to review everything before formally approving his request to represent Ms. Zhang.
Wang deposed Ms. Zhang at the detention center on August 16 and questioned her as to how her family came to know the Beijing lawyer.
During the hearing on October 17, the lawyer requested that Wang and the two prosecutors present be recused. Wang adjourned the hearing in response. When she resumed the session, the lawyer again requested recusal. She stopped the hearing again, only to resume and reject the lawyer’s recusal request a third time. The lawyer protested and Wang announced to end the hearing for good and that another hearing would be held on November 1. It is unclear whether the new hearing was held as scheduled or when Ms. Zhang was convicted.
Prior to her latest sentencing, Ms. Zhang was arrested on February 12, 2020 and held at a brainwashing center for 65 days before being released on bail. She was later indicted but it’s unclear what the legal outcome was.
See the related report for details of Ms. Zhang’s past persecution.
Related Report:
Five Falun Gong Practitioners in Liaoning Province Indicted for Their Faith
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