(Minghui.org) A Pengzhou City, Sichuan Province resident was sentenced to five years and fined 10,000-yuan on December 22, 2022 for his faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Mr. Zeng Fanfeng, a power company employee, was arrested at home on November 30, 2021 and taken to the Pengzhou City Detention Center. When he stood trial at the Pengzhou City Court (date unknown), his lawyer, who went to the court to enter a not guilty plea for him, was not allowed to talk during the hearing. Mr. Zeng thrice requested to see his family at the end of the hearing, but the presiding judge, Wang Li (+86-18081150948), ignored him each time.
Ten months later on October 30, 2023, the same Pengzhou City Court meted out the same sentences against three other local Falun Gong practitioners: Mr. Liu Jia, Mr. Nie Zongguo, and Ms. Gong Yubin.
Minghui.org has previously reported on the arrests and the joint trial of Mr. Liu, Mr. Nie, and Ms. Gong. The rest of the article presents newly received updates on their cases.
According to insiders, the Pengzhou City Police Department and the Pengzhou City Political and Legal Affairs Committee, an extra-judiciary agency tasked with overseeing the persecution of Falun Gong, orchestrated the arrests of the aforementioned four practitioners and at least six other practitioners between November 2021 and January 2022. One of the practitioners, Ms. Huang Sulan, died six days after her arrest on January 20, 2022.
The two government agencies later established a special task force to prosecute the arrested practitioners, resulting in the wrongful convictions of Mr. Zeng, Mr. Liu, Mr. Nie, and Ms. Gong.
Mr. Liu’s Sister Barred from Serving as His Family Defender
Mr. Liu’s sister and mother traveled long distances to Pengzhou on October 26, 2023, four days ahead of his hearing. They went to the Pengzhou City Court to submit Mr. Liu’s sister’s application to be his non-lawyer family defender. The receptionist refused to accept the application because he couldn’t find Mr. Liu’s case in the system.
Mr. Liu’s sister made some quick inquiries and was directed to Li Yin (+86-18086822432), the presiding judge in charge of her brother’s case. Li rejected her request to be a family defender. She still submitted her application to the receptionist, who accepted it this time.
Mr. Liu’s sister attended a pre-trial meeting the next day. After the meeting, she approached judge Zhang Huawen (+86-18980576849), who, along with judge Gao Liu (+86-13408652668), was assigned to assist judge Li in the case, and requested to be her brother’s family defender. Zhang used various excuses to not approve her request.
About half an hour before the hearing was set to start on October 30, 2023, Zhang had a talk with Mr. Liu’s sister and again warned her that she was not allowed to defend her brother in court. Zhang instead asked her to tell him what she had intended to say to defend her brother and had a clerk record her words. She requested that Zhang read out aloud her defense statement in court, but he never did.
Supporter Arrested Outside the Courthouse
On the day of the trial, two police cars were parked outside the courthouse, which was also guarded by many officers. Ms. Bai Daiyu, a local practitioner, was arrested by more than two dozen plainclothes officers when she tried to go inside to attend the hearing. She was not released until hours later.
All of the spectators were ordered to go through security checks twice and barred from bringing their cellphones inside the courtroom. Instead, they had to store their phones in lockers before they were issued a pass to go inside. Only two rows of the seats were reserved for the defendants’ family members, with the rest of the seats (more than 50) occupied by people from the local street committees, police stations, 610 Office, and the Political and Legal Affairs Committees.
Practitioners Testify Against Police Brutality
Mr. Liu, Mr. Nie, and Ms. Gong were all shackled and handcuffed, and they were each led by two bailiffs into the courtroom during their trial at the Pengzhou City Court on October 30, 2023.
The three practitioners’ respective lawyers all entered a not guilty plea for them and emphasized that no law in China criminalizes Falun Gong or labels it as a cult. As such, they should never have been prosecuted for exercising their constitutional right to freedom of belief.
Mr. Liu testified against the police brutality. He was held at a hotel for 18 days following his arrest on January 2, 2022. During those 18 days, he was beaten by six officers three times a day every day. Officers Tong Daikun, Li Heping, Guan Shihai, Wang Gang, Yu Gang, Liu Qing, Liu Qiwu, Yang Liu, Yang Cheng, and Hu Deyu were involved in his daily beatings, which resulted in fracture of his left leg and inflammation of his gallbladder. He had to have his gallbladder removed at the hospital.
With his lawyer’s intervention, the police transferred Mr. Liu to the Pengzhou City Detention Center on January 24, 2022. When he was admitted, both of his legs were severely swollen and he was unable to stand or walk on his own. There was also swelling in his right knee. The guards didn’t require him to go through a physical examination, but took off all of his clothes in the lobby and took pictures of his legs.
Prosecutor Ke Yanbai (+86-13518123298) produced a police interrogation record, which stated that no officer had ever beaten Mr. Liu and that his injuries were a result of his self-harm as he “pinched his inner thighs and hit his legs with his handcuffs.”
Judges Li, Zhang, and Gao sided with the prosecutor and claimed that there was no evidence of police brutality against Mr. Liu.
Mr. Liu refuted the statement by raising his hands to show the bruise marks still visible on his wrists. He said that the police ordered him to put his hands on his legs and then stomped on the handcuffs extremely hard. The handcuffs cut into his wrists and pressed against his thighs, leaving large bruises on his legs. He also pointed out that he was always beaten in a room without surveillance cameras while being held in that hotel. As such, there was no video to show his beatings.
Mr. Nie also testified against police brutality. He was taken to the Xinjin Brainwashing Center after he was arrested on January 6, 2022. The police beat him hard and he was forced to renounce Falun Gong against his will. During the court hearing, he declared to nullify the statements he wrote at the brainwashing center to renounce Falun Gong.
Ms. Gong, whose arrest date was unknown, said that she was abused to the point that she had trouble eating for several months. She also developed a lump in her abdomen.
During the one-hour court recess, a spectator asked one of the family members, “Is Falun Gong good?” The family member said, “Of course! Otherwise how do you explain these practitioners risking their lives to uphold their faith?”
The three judges announced to sentence all three practitioners to five years with a 10,000-yuan fine at the end of the hearing.
Related reports:Woman in Her 50s Dies Three Days After Being Arrested for Practicing Falun Gong
Pengzhou City, Sichuan Province: Recap of Recent and Earlier Persecution Cases against Falun Gong
Chengdu Man Beaten at a Hotel-turned Detention Site, Incurred Injuries in His Leg and Gallbladder
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