(Minghui.org) Qixia Court officials covertly tried six Falun Gong practitioners on the morning of July 4, 2012, without informing the practitioners' families or attorneys.

The six practitioners were among more than 20 practitioners from Qixia City who were arrested between August 29 and 30, 2011. Participating in the arrests were Qixia 610 Office agents who colluded with Yantai city police. They also ransacked the practitioners' homes and confiscated a lot of their personal belongings. Several of the arrested practitioners were tortured while they were detained. Several practitioners who were released were threatened with prison sentences if they failed to pay extortion money.

Mr. Lin Guojun and Mr. Feng Yunxue from the Xiacheng District were officially arrested on October 12, 2011. Mr. Liu Lebing from Sikou was sentenced to two years of forced labor. Four practitioners—Ms. Feng Cuirong, Ms. Jiang Shuying, Ms. Lin Guoling, and Ms. Sun Qianjing—were taken to the Fushan Detention Center in Yantai City. They were forced to do hard labor making bamboo containers over 16 hours every day. If they could not finish their quota, they were deprived of sleep and handcuffed outside in the freezing cold. Reportedly, they were physically abused and mistreated many times while being interrogated during their more than four months of detention. The guards kicked, hit, and stomped hard on them, leaving them completely black and blue.

The practitioners' families hired honest lawyers from Beijing in December 2011 to defend their loved ones. The procuratorate twice rejected the cases submitted by the police, and the trial was once cancelled. But the Qixia police refused to release the practitioners. They continued to fabricate charges and prosecuted the practitioners three times.

Qixia Court officials accepted the case in May 2012. Five Beijing lawyers were ready to defend the six practitioners in court.

On July 3, 2012, however, the police strictly guarded the road between the Qixia Detention Center and Qixia Court, and there were several police vehicles at every road junction. Seven cars were loaded with officials from Yantai Court. All this because four female practitioners were being held in the Fushan Detention Center in Yantai. The heavy police presence and extraordinary security measures caused people to wonder what was going on.

Why did the court try the practitioners without informing their families and lawyers? We can only assume that the court officials were afraid the attorneys would expose the illegality of the Chinese Communist Party's persecution of Falun Gong practitioners and perhaps did not want to argue with the attorneys during the trial.

Thus far, Mr. Lin Guojun, Mr. Feng Yunxue, Ms. Feng Cuirong, Ms. Jiang Shuying, Ms. Lin Guoling, and Ms. Sun Qianjing have been detained for nearly a year.

Related article: “Crimes Committed by Du Jianjun, Deputy Director of Yantai City Police Department” http://en.minghui.org/html/articles/2012/3/3/131873.html#.T_p2OPXuhac