(Minghui.org) Four Cangzhou City, Hebei Province residents stood trial on December 21, 2023 for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
The authorities arranged a large police force to guard the courthouse during the hearing. Dozens of police cruisers were seen parked along the 1.2-mile long road near the court. Police also patrolled outside, videotaped the cars that drove by and questioned pedestrians.
Families Barred from Attending the Hearing
The four practitioners, Ms. Liu Zaiyun, Ms. Su Chunfeng, Ms. Hu Xiumei and Mr. Hou Shuyuan, were arrested on January 11, 2022. They were followed by police while they distributed informational materials about Falun Gong. The local Yunhe District Procuratorate twice returned the case to the police, citing insufficient evidence, before indicting them on October 26, 2022. Judge Liu Zhongcheng of the Yunhe District Court was assigned to handle the case.
Early on the evening of December 20, 2023, the day before the hearing, five officers from the Jindao Police Station harassed Mr. Hou’s son, Mr. Hou Dongliang. They threatened the son and told him not to attend his father’s hearing the next day; they said if he went, he would not be allowed to enter the building. Despite the police officers’ repeated demands, Mr. Hou refused to open the door. The police reported the situation to their supervisor and left.
Mr. Hou Shuyuan’s wife did go to the court the next day. She was stopped by the police and residential committee staffers who oversaw her residence at the entrance of the court. She said that she hadn’t been allowed to see Mr. Hou for nearly two years, but the police still refused to allow her to go inside. She stood in the wind for over two hours but was not allowed to enter the building.
Ms. Liu’s daughter was also stopped at the entrance of the court. A plainclothes officer ordered her to leave. She insisted that she was not violating any laws by standing there and she demanded to see the police officers’ IDs, who then quickly flashed them at her.
She asked an officer, “My mother is appearing in court. Why can’t I attend her hearing?” A plainclothes officer came over and attempted to arrest her. It happened that Ms. Liu’s lawyer arrived and Ms. Liu’s daughter told the lawyer that the police threatened to arrest her. The lawyer told the police that he would take legal action against them if they arrested Ms. Liu’s daughter. They left.
Ms. Su’s husband had long submitted the document to be her non-lawyer family defender. Yet the day before the hearing, Gao Fusong of the Xinhua District Domestic Security Office, who was also responsible for the practitioners’ arrests, took him into custody and held him at the Donghua Middle Street Police Station for a day. He wasn’t allowed to go home until the hearing ended. The judge appointed a lawyer to represent Ms. Su.
The Court Hearing
All four practitioners’ lawyers, including Ms. Su’s court-appointed lawyer, entered not guilty plea for them. The practitioners also maintained that they didn’t violate any law by practicing their faith. The gallery seats were taken up by community workers and government officials. Ma Yongsheng, the vice president of Yunhe District Court and those from the local Political and Legal Affairs Committee, an extra-judiciary agency tasked with overseeing the persecution were seen watching the hearing in a different room.
One practitioner’s lawyer pointed out that the evidence presented by the prosecutors couldn’t show how the practitioners violated the law or caused any harm to any individual or society at large. He added that no law in China has ever criminalized Falun Gong.
Prosecutors Kong Lingxia, Li Hejia and Li Chuanhe strongly defended their decision to charge the practitioners, but they also admitted that the police-provided evidence was weak. The presiding judge, Liu Zhongcheng, frequently interrupted the practitioners and their lawyers as they tried to clarify the facts about Falun Gong. Judge Fu Rao was also present at the hearing.
The prosecutors recommended that Ms. Liu and Mr. Hou each be sentenced to three years, Ms. Su to two and a half years and Ms. Hu to two years, and that they all be fined. The judge adjourned the 4.5-hour long hearing at 1:30 p.m. without announcing the verdict.
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