(Minghui.org) Four Luzhou City, Sichuan Province, residents are awaiting verdicts following two hearings for their faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Gou Zhengqiong was arrested on August 2, 2019. The other three practitioners, including Ms. Deng Wanying, Ms. Lei Huanying, and Ms. Luo Taihui, were arrested on August 21, 2019. All of them have been held at the Naxi Detention Center in the past year.
During the four women’s first hearing at Lu County Court on July 13, 2020, the judge didn’t allow the practitioners’ families to attend the hearing or even watch the live streaming of the hearing in the lobby of the courthouse. One practitioner’s family member was told that it was a secret hearing and no information would be available to the public.
Ms. Luo and Ms. Lei’s lawyers entered a not guilty plea for their clients. They argued that no law ever criminalizes Falun Gong in China and that their clients’ freedom of belief and speech are their basic rights protected by the law. They emphasized that no matter how many Falun Gong materials Ms. Luo and Ms. Lei had at home or gave out on the street, they didn’t violate any law.
The lawyers also pointed out several violations by the police in handling the cases, including their ransacking of the practitioners’ homes without wearing the police uniform, not having at least two officers taking part in the home-raid as required by law, as well as their not showing their IDs and search warrant, and not providing lists of confiscated items afterward.
Among the over 40 witnesses listed by the police, none of them appeared in court to accept cross-examination, nor did they articulate in their written testimonies what the practitioners have done specifically. The photos and video clips used as prosecution evidence also failed to show what the practitioners were doing for the alleged “criminal activities.”
Other prosecution evidence against the practitioners included the photos of Falun Gong books and materials, but none of them were presented during the hearing. The lawyers urged the prosecutor to present those materials in court so that they could go over it together to see whether it contained any illegal content as alleged.
Both Ms. Luo and Ms. Lei also testified in their own defense and recounted the benefits they have received in practicing Falun Gong, both physically and mentally. They pleaded not guilty and demanded to be acquitted.
Ms. Deng and Ms. Gou were represented by the court-appointed lawyers, who never met with them before the hearing and were instructed by the authorities to enter a guilty plea. One practitioner’s family heard one of the lawyers said she hadn’t even read the case document carefully before the hearing.
The Lu County Court held a second hearing on September 15, 2020. The prosecutor updated the indictment and added a few more copies of the materials allegedly to have been distributed by the practitioners. He also played a new video clip of the practitioners recorded by the surveillance camera. But the lawyers still argued that the video failed to show what illegal activities their clients were doing.
The lawyers repeated their defense argument that the persecution against Falun Gong didn’t have any legal basis and none of the evidence presented in court could demonstrate what law their clients had violated or what damage they had caused to others or to society.
Ms. Deng testified in her own defense and said how practicing Falun Gong has improved her health and uplifted her mind. Ms. Luo also said that she practices Falun Gong to improve health and didn’t harm anyone. All four practitioners pleaded not guilty for practicing their faith. They are now awaiting the verdicts in the detention center.
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