(Minghui.org) Seventeen Falun Gong practitioners were illegally arrested on June 20, 2014 in various districts throughout Fushun City, Liaoning Province. Ms. Xu Guizhen (徐桂珍), in her late 60s, was one of those arrested.
A group of agents from the Gaowan Police Station broke into Ms. Xu’s apartment and confiscated her Falun Gong books, a laptop computer, three printers, and other personal belongings.
When the Wanghua District Court held a trial for Ms. Xu inside the Fushun Detention Center on October 28, her lawyer Jiang Yibing noticed that the indictment read by the prosecutor was inconsistent with the copy he received. After he objected, the judge decided to postpone the trial for seven days.
Mr. Jiang pleaded not guilty on behalf of Ms. Xu when the trial resumed one week later. He pointed out that Article 36 of the Chinese Constitution guarantees the freedom of religious belief. He argued that his client's practice of Falun Gong is simply exercising her constitutional rights.
He also made it clear that no law has ever banned Falun Gong or labeled it a cult. Therefore, the prosecutor's charge that his client “utilized cults to undermine the enforcement of the law” lacked any legal basis. He pointed that such charges are a convenient excuse commonly adopted by the Chinese Communist regime to sentence practitioners of Falun Gong.
Shen Qili and You Junliang: policemen in charge of Ms. Xu’s case.
Jiao Chen: former deputy head of the Domestic Security Team of Shuncheng Police Department, who orchestrated the arrest of the 17 practitioners.