(Record of the Trial)


Facts of the "Criminal Offense":

On Oct. 21, 1999, Falun Gong practitioners Zhuang Jian from Guangzhou City, Chen Tuoyu from Guiyang City, Yu Yufang from Guanghan City and other 18 practitioners were reported to the authorities to be having an experience sharing meeting in a practitioner's home at Xiaohan town, Guanghan City. Armed with batons and shields, the riot police carefully surrounded the practitioner's home as if facing formidable foes. Actually, they were just dealing with 21 barehanded ordinary people. In this way the Guanghan City Police were declared to have uncovered what was called "the first serious case of Falun Gong interstate contact in Sichuan province".

Because the 21 practitioners who were caught talking at a friend's home refused to write the pledges, as requested, to break with Falun Gong, the Guanghan City Public Security Bureau punished the 21 practitioners according to the seriousness of each one's case; some were sentenced to 15-day administrative detention and some to 30-day criminal detention. The site provider was sentenced to a "re-education labor campus". The so-called "agitators", Zhuang Jian and Chen Tuoyu, and "organizer", Yu Yufang, were put in unlimited criminal detention.


Brief Introduction to these Dafa Practitioners:

Zhuang Jian, male, 27, was a Master's degree student in Economics. He started to practice Falun Gong in 1997, and has been to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong 3 times since last July 22. His wife also appealed for Falun Gong in Beijing many times. Chen Tuoyu (the author of "Over There", "Coming Back From Over There", and "Over There II"), is a male, 28, who was a lawyer. He started to practice Falun Gong in 1997. His wife also went to Beijing to appeal, and was forced to resign after she came back.

Yu Yufang, female, 51, was a Communist Party Member, (forced to withdraw from party membership after 7/22/99). She was a former CEO of the Guanghan City Ice Factory. During her term of office as CEO, she was always beloved and respected by the workers and staff members. Her reputation as a kind person was known far and wide.


A Court Verdict Decided before the Trial

Probably because the authorities totally failed to transform these practitioners, or because these people being "transformed" went on a hunger strike instead of repenting their errors", or possibly because Luo Gan and He Zuoxiu were inspecting Guanghan, the local governments in Sichuan escalated the persecutions on Falun Gong practitioners. The Guanghan City Court eventually decided to have a so-called "open court" to bring to trial Zhuang Jian, Chen Tuoyu and Yu Yufang on July 5, 2000, despite the fact that the prosecutor had not collected enough evidence to support the accusation and had postponed the date of opening the court session several times for this reason. It should be noted that it has been said that Sichuan Province was an important place in the southwest of China to suppress Falun Gong. Accordingly, the geographically favored Guanghan area was chosen as a vital place to repress Falun Gong in Sichuan Province. This was because Guanghan had become the regular place for having large group practices and experience sharing.)

On July 3, the family members of Zhuang Jian and Chen Tuoyu came to the Guanghan City Court and asked to defend the accused in court.

Once by chance, somebody saw two confidential documents:

The first one was a report submitted by Guanghan City Court to its higher authorities. In the report, it said that the court had already made its judgment to convict the practitioners of "organizing and using the evil cult to prevent the law from being implemented". And they were going to give Zhuang Jian five-years' imprisonment, Chen Tuoyu three-years' imprisonment and Yu Yufang three-years' imprisonment. They submitted it to De Yang City Intermediate People's Court and Sichuan Province Higher People's Court for their approvals.

The second document was the written replies from the Deyang City Intermediate People's Court and the Sichuan Province Higher People's Court.. They agreed with the decision of the Guanghan City Court, but the measurement of penalty was adjusted to 4 years for Zhuang Jian, 3 years and 6 months for Chen Tuoyu, and 3 years for Yu Yufang. It was dated June 29, 2000.

Both documents were ironically stamped "Solemn" by the court. Guided by evil motives, the Constitution and human rights were already trampled underfoot by those ill-intentioned people.


The So-Called Open Court Trial:

Although the defendants were merely two young gentlemen and a kind-hearted elderly lady, on the day of trial the court insisted on firmly closed gates and tight controls on spectators. In this way they revealed their own guilty conscience. Large numbers of armed police, riot police, packed the whole street in front of the Court as if they were facing extreme danger. The 25 neighboring counties had organized many study sessions in advance so as to restrict the practitioners' mobility and prevent them from going to the Guanghan Court. Nevertheless, a large number of practitioners came to the court and waited outside for the outcome of the trial. The whole street was full of these kind-hearted people. Many practitioners volunteered to appear in the trial to give testimony on the defendants' behalf. They said that the Public Security Bureau had misled them to write many statements that disfavored the three practitioners. Right before the opening of the court session, a police van suddenly appeared, and all those who knew Zhuang Jian or Chen Tuoyu were forcibly arrested and put into it.


The Fictitious Accusation:

Finally, the trial began. In his opening statement the public prosecutor stated: The accused Yu Yufang plotted and organized illegal gatherings many times in Guanghan area. And the accused Zhuang Jian and Chen Tuoyu spread Falun Gong by means of telling stories and sharing experiences, causing large-scale revival of Falun Gong. After it was officially banned by the government on July 22, 1999, in the name of "Dafa disciple in Guanghan", the accused Yu Yufang repeatedly sent written material to the Party and government organizations, judicial and public security organizations ...that openly requested...the right of existence...

The "evidence" of crime presented by the public prosecutor were mainly the words of Falun Gong practitioners, such as "Falun Gong is indeed good", "We are determined to practice cultivation to the end", "It was out of our own will to go to Beijing to appeal"... The court accepted the obviously inconsistent statements of the public prosecutor while the direct testimonial evidence introduced by the defense was ruled not admissible.


The Evil Can Not Defeat The Right:

In the court, Zhuang Jian, Chen Tuoyu and Yu Yufang showed their noble spirits. In their statements they mentioned that it was exactly out of their sense of absolute trust and responsibility to their country that they went to Beijing to appeal in spite of personal losses and gains. Falun Dafa has every advantage but not a single drawback, and so on. Although the judge arbitrarily interrupted their speeches several times, they showed their great kindness and tolerance. Their wives defended them in the court, and they argued logically and strongly on just grounds against the accusations of the public prosecutor. Of the nearly 200 attendees, everyone could sense the right and wrong and on which side the justice lay.

The closing arguments lasted for three and one-half hours. At last, the public prosecutor failed to prove the defendants' guilt and was unable to advance any further arguments. He burst into such words: "An evil cult is an evil cult, any activities that propagates an evil cult are illegal, and they should be charged with criminal offenses." The defendants argued: "In 1992, the Ministry of Public Security once sent a thank-you letter to Mr. Li Hongzhi, and thanked him for his volunteered Qigong consultation for a Foundation directly under the Ministry of Public Security of China (A Foundation awarding people who made contributions to the justice course). The letter expressed appreciation to Mr. Li Hongzhi for his outstanding curative efforts. Many people heard about it and that was why they began to practice Falun Gong. In the logic of the public prosecutor, should the leader of the Ministry of the Public Safety therefore be accused too?" At this point, the public prosecutor could not say a single word. The judge immediately announced recess, and after less than 3 minutes of "deliberation", the court reconvened. The judge took out the judgment prepared long time ago and pronounced the court verdict.

That's the end of this open trial. You can judge who was right and who was wrong.


Conclusion

After the trial, Zhuang Jian, Chen Tuoyu and Yu Yufang said that actually it didn't matter how long they had to serve the sentences. The most important thing was that they gave the public an opportunity to know about Falun Gong. "Good and evil comes from a person's spontaneous thought" (Zhuan Falun). This was also what a practitioner should do in "helping Master in the world".

Reported by practitioners in China on 7/12/00 (Translated on 7/14/00 from http://www.minghui.ca/gb/0001/Jul/13/lun_shenpan.html)

Category: Accounts of Persecution