(Minghui.org) A 58-year-old Tai’an City, Shandong Province, resident, stood trial on August 6, 2024, for her faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999. Ms. Fu Yanli’s lawyer entered a not guilty plea for her.
Ms. Fu, a former physician of the 14th Bureau of the Ministry of Railways in Tai’an, was fired for not renouncing Falun Gong and was also stripped of her retirement benefits. She made a living by renting out her property and running a clothing store. Her latest arrest took place on October 26, 2023, by officers from the Daiyue District Domestic Security Division. The Daiyue District Procuratorate indicted her on March 15, 2024, and moved her case to the Daiyue District Court.
When Ms. Fu appeared in court around 9:30 a.m. on August 6, 2024, after nearly ten months in custody, she appeared emaciated and very weak, unable to walk on her own. When she sat down, the bailiff failed to provide enough support and she collapsed into the chair. The judge asked her how she felt. She responded that she felt very weak, dizzy, and nauseous.
Ms. Fu’s Self-Defense
The judge first asked Ms. Fu to describe her arrest. She said that someone approached her in the elevator of her apartment building on October 26, 2023, as she was returning home after having a haircut. He asked her whether she was Fu Yanli. After she said “Yes,” he pushed her against the elevator wall. Another ten plainclothes officers showed up and they remained silent when she asked them who they were.
“Do you know that your printer and computer were seized from your home? Did you receive a list of confiscated items?” the judge asked her.
Ms. Fu replied that she had no idea about what items were confiscated from her home, as she was carried into a white car after her arrest and she wasn’t present during the raid. The police never provided a list of confiscated items to her. She added that her cell phone, family car and car key were impounded as well. She didn’t know what the police did to her cell phone or car, or what was used as prosecution evidence against her.
The judge next asked her to explain why she practiced Falun Gong. She recounted that she developed a severe kidney condition around 1990. She was allergic to antibiotics and the doctor had nothing to prescribe to her. It happened that qigong became popular at that time and many people enjoyed health improvement from practicing qigong. The president of the hospital associated with her workplace recommended her to practice Falun Gong. She gave it a try and found it very good. She has been practicing it since and her health has indeed recovered.
When asked if she had anything to add, Ms. Fu said that no law ever criminalizes Falun Gong or labels it as a cult in China. There was no mention of Falun Gong either in the list of 14 cults published by the Public Security Bureau in 2000.
Lawyer’s Defense
Ms. Fu’s lawyer said that the General Administration of Press and Publication issued Announcement 50 on March 1, 2011, repealing two notices banning the publication of Falun Gong books. It was thus totally legal for Ms. Fu to possess or distribute Falun Gong material publications and she shouldn’t be charged for it.
The lawyer also pointed out several issues regarding the evidence used against his client.
The first was the testimonies from two Falun Gong practitioners, Ms. Wang Range and Ms. Cheng Guifeng, who were arrested in 2020 and 2021, respectively, for distributing calendars bearing information about Falun Gong. Ms. Wang was released after three months of detention and Ms. Cheng was sentenced to six months with one-year probation in May 2022. The prosecutor in charge of Ms. Fu’s case alleged that both Ms. Wang and Ms. Cheng, as well as their children, testified that the calendars they distributed were provided by Ms. Fu.
Ms. Fu’s lawyer said that none of the witnesses appeared in court to accept cross-examination, nor did the police or the prosecutor verify the accounts with them. As it’s commonly known that the police have been fabricating interrogation records to frame Falun Gong practitioners (including in Ms. Fu’s own case), such unverified accounts couldn’t be used as valid prosecution evidence. On the other hand, if the calendars were indeed provided by Ms. Fu, why didn’t the police arrest her back then, but waited three years to file the case against her?
The prosecutor then presented testimony from a delivery worker, who remembered a woman in her 50s coming to his store twice to pick up two boxes of copy paper. The license plate number recorded by the worker was the same as Ms. Fu’s.
Ms. Fu responded that it was completely normal for her to buy copy paper. She questioned what prompted the delivery worker to record her license plate. Her lawyer added that the copy paper is not an illegal product and anyone can buy it. In addition, the delivery worker couldn’t confirm that it was Ms. Fu who picked up the paper and that it could be her family who was driving her car and picking up the paper.
The prosecutor showed footage taken at night three years ago with very low resolution, claiming that they recorded Ms. Fu distributing the materials. Ms. Fu’s lawyer said that the videos were very blurry and failed to clearly identify the person being recorded. He also said that if the calendars were indeed distributed by his client, the police should have been able to extract her fingerprints from them, but no such information was ever provided.
The prosecutor accused Ms. Fu of not signing the interrogation records or the list of confiscated items. Ms. Fu clarified that the police never showed the list to her. The reason why she didn’t sign the interrogation records was because the information written by the police was not what she said and of course, she couldn’t sign it.
In the end, Ms. Fu’s lawyer pointed out that while the prosecutor charged his client with “undermining law enforcement with a cult organization,” the standard pretext used by the Chinese courts to criminalize Falun Gong practitioners, he failed to show how Ms. Fu undermined which law’s enforcement with what motive. Furthermore, the prosecutor was unable to demonstrate what harm Ms. Fu might have caused to any individual or society at large by her practicing Falun Gong. Such law-abiding citizens shouldn’t be prosecuted simply for practicing their faith to be a good person and keep fit. The lawyer demanded the judge to acquit Ms. Fu.
The judge adjourned the hearing at 12:30 p.m. without announcing a verdict.
Related Reports:
Former Railroad Bureau Employee Detained for Practicing Falun Gong, Family Car Impounded
Tai’an, Shandong Province: At Least 11 Falun Gong Practitioners Harassed in Two Months
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