(Minghui.org) A resident of Jianping County, Liaoning Province stood trial on June 20, 2024 for her faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999. Ms. Wang Liying’s non-lawyer defender was barred from representing her in court, and she testified in her own defense.

Ms. Wang’s ordeal stemmed from her arrest at the Jianping County High-speed Train Station on March 6, 2023, when she was about to board a train to accompany her husband to Beijing to undergo heart valve surgery. The police raided her home and took her to the Chaoyang City Detention Center (Chaoyang City oversees Jianping County). It is unclear whether her husband ever made it to Beijing for his scheduled surgery, but he was known to have been hospitalized after her arrest. Ms. Wang was released on bail on March 17, 2023.

A year later on April 17, 2024, the Jianping County Procuratorate charged her with “using a cult to undermine law enforcement,” a standard pretext used by the communist regime to frame Falun Gong practitioners.

Ms. Wang initially hired a lawyer, but had to fire him when he refused to enter a not guilty plea for her. A relative of hers, Xuan (alias), then agreed to serve as her non-lawyer defender and enter a not guilty plea as she requested.

Xuan called judge Zhang Jie (+86-15642629029) of the Jianping County Court and inquired about what documents were required for him to represent Ms. Wang. He then submitted all the required documents to the court on June 17, 2024. Zhang, however, returned his application materials on the grounds that he did not write “[my client] is on bail” in the documents.

Xuan resubmitted his application the next day and requested to review Ms. Wang’s case file as soon as possible since her court date had been set for June 20, 2024. Judge Zhang claimed that the court needed to discuss whether to grant Xuan’s request to represent Ms. Wang in the first place.

Xuan called Zhang several times after that, but the latter never picked up the phone. Ms. Wang received a call from clerk Yuan Ye (+86-15242629219) on June 19, notifying her to report to the court for deposition at 3 p.m. Xuan heard back from Zhang at about 6 p.m. that day, saying that the court had rejected his request to be Ms. Wang’s defender.

Ms. Wang stood trial at the Jianping County Court at 9 a.m. on June 20. She argued that no law in China criminalizes Falun Gong and demanded an acquittal.

Zhang has still yet to issue a ruling.