Jilin Province Falun Gong Practitioner Yang Xiaohai Put on Trial

At 8:20 a.m. on January 19, 2005, the Jiaohe City People's Court put Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Yang Xiaohai on trial. Among the participants were officials from the Jiaohe Communist Party Committee and City Political and Judiciary Committee, members of the "610 Office" (1), some staff from the Procurator's office, Chief Justice of the court and some office personnel. They even brought in some peasants from nearby villages to act as Yang Xiaohai's family members.

Before the trial, the court officials made the following arrangements: blocking information, not telling the family, not issuing a hearing permit (only the 610 Office could issue a permit in this trial against Yang Xiaohai), denying hearing requests from family members.

During the trial, the security in the courthouse was extremely tight. The gatekeepers were on duty outside the entrance, and from courtroom eight to the lobby. 610 Office personnel were all over the place. Outside the courtroom, police officers served as guards. Family members were kept away from the building. Mr. Yang Xiaohai was not allowed to hire a defence lawyer.

Yang's wife Guo Shiqing is 45 years old. Before she practised Falun Gong, she was bedridden and could not live without the help of others. In 1995, she started to practise Falun Gong. Soon she regained her health and became capable of caring for herself and helping her husband to do farm work. After July 1999, when the government began to persecute Falun Gong, their home was repeatedly searched. Both of them were arrested, detained and extorted out of money. A police officer even beat up their young son.

We strongly demand the immediate release of Yang Xiaohai and all detained practitioners and to bring the perpetrators of the persecution to justice.

Notes:

(1) "The 610 office" is an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2005/1/27/94360.html