(Minghui.org) Mr. Zhou Dulun, a Falun Gong practitioner from Chongqing City, was illegally tried for the second time on June 17, 2014. Despite his lawyer's logical and well substantiated defense that it is legal to practice Falun Gong in China, the judge sentenced him to three and a half years in prison for talking to people about Falun Gong.
Unjustly Convicted during Second Trial
Mr. Zhou Dulun was arrested on September 6, 2013 while attempting to put Falun Gong information posters on utility poles. He was taken to the Baiheling Detention Center in the Shapingba District, and has been detained there since then.
He was first tried at the Shapingba District Court on January 15, 2014. His lawyer pleaded not-guilty and argued that it is legal to practice Falun Gong in China. He requested that his client be acquitted.
During the second trial, Mr. Zhou denied the prosecutor's charges against him and explained the benefits he experienced through practicing Falun Gong for 18 years. His lawyer said that Falun Gong is not illegal. There was no legal basis for accusing his client of “using a heretical organization to undermine the implementation of law”. Once again, he asked that his client be acquitted.
After a five-minute break, presiding judge Liu Chuanjiang pronounced Mr. Zhou guilty of propagating Falun Gong. The court sentenced him to three and a half years of imprisonment.
After the verdict was announced, Mr. Zhou's family reprimanded the judge for unjustly convicting a good man. Mr. Zhou's mom is in her 80s. She has high blood pressure and news of her son's second imprisonment was a terrible blow to her.
Mr. Zhou was previously sentenced to 13 years of imprisonment in 2002. He was released in 2011.
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