Falun Gong Practitioners in Fujin City Tried for Their Beliefs

This is the continuing story of five Falun Gong practitioners from Fujin City: Ms. You Jinying, Yang Shuzhen, Ms. Gao Yumin, Ms. Yuan Yulong, and Ms. Liu Siyuan. They were arrested because they practise Falun Gong. A trial was held in the Suibin Detention Centre by Suibin County Court officials in Hegang City on the morning of October 19th, 2012. Two lawyers from Beijing defended the practitioners, who had been mistreated by the authorities. Wu Jun, presiding judge, and Huang Zuolong, the procurator of Suibin Court, repeatedly tried to interfere with the lawyers' defence.

During the trial, Ms. Liu Siyuan's lawyer stated that the charge of "using an evil cult organisation to undermine the enforcement of the law" could not be proven due to the lack of facts and evidence. The lawyer pointed out that his client was a Falun Gong practitioner who wanted to improve herself by following the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. She was a law-abiding citizen and had the right to explain the facts of Falun Gong to the public. Her actions were peaceful and within the law allowed by the Constitution.

The lawyer also pointed out that all judgments should be based on justice in order to determine right from wrong and that the human conscience should be the ultimate authority to make a final judgment. He noted that the misuse of the 300th Article in “Criminal law” by the court in an attempt to frame and persecute Falun Gong practitioners was a serious breach of human conscience and morality, and that it went against social justice. The fact that the judicial authorities know that Falun Gong practitioners are kind and innocent people and yet still impose heavy sentences on them is, in itself, a crime. In persecuting good people, no one can be absolved from going against his conscience and human morality by claiming that he is “just following orders from his superiors.” The Courts should unconditionally acquit all Falun Gong practitioners.

Wu Jun attempted to prevent the lawyer from presenting his defence. He didn't understand why the lawyer would defend Falun Gong practitioners and wondered if he, too, practised Falun Gong. In the end, the public security organisations would not make a final decision, declaring that they would let the higher court rule.

Details of the Arrest

On July 14th, 2012, at 9 p.m., Ms. You Jinying and four other practitioners went to Yongde Village in Beijing Town, Suibin County, to hand out Falun Gong materials exposing the persecution of Falun Gong. They were arrested and detained in Suibin Detention Centre. Before the trial, Ms. You Jinying, Yang Shuzhen and Ms. Gao Yumin went on a hunger strike to protest their arrests.

Practitioners' families and many other concerned people opposed the arrests and asked for the acquittal of the five practitioners. The practitioner's families then hired two lawyers from Beijing to sue the Suibin Public Security Bureau and the Procuratorate. Also at that time, other practitioners and family members were actively trying to find Lu Jiansheng, captain of the public security bureau, and Zheng Zhen, head of the national security brigade, so they could explain to them the facts of Falun Gong. Meanwhile, Ms. You Jinying, Yang Shuzhen, and Ms. Gao Yumin were transferred to the First Detention Centre of Hegang City.

At 8 a.m. on October 19th, the practitioners' families and their lawyers, about 60 people in all, went to Suibin Detention Centre for the trial. Before the trial began, a police car carried Ms. You Jinying, Yang Shuzhen, and Ms. Gao Yumin to the site. When the police car was spotted by the practitioners' families, the detention centre police tried to force them to leave. The van parked outside the courthouse drove out of the gate, and the police then locked the gate behind them. A few moments later, a police car and dozens of cars from the public security bureau, the Procuratorate, and the 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) arrived. As a result, the parking lot was packed with officials' cars. Practitioners' families were kept outside the gate. Ms. You Jinying's 17-year-old daughter was standing behind the fence to wait for her mother. As soon as the gate was opened, she rushed in, crying, “I want to see my mother. I want to see my mother.” The crowd was extremely sympathetic to her and what they witnessed. She was held back by the police, who dragged her out of the gate. The crowd was angry at this injustice, knowing she had a right to see her mother, regardless of any crime that the police felt her mother was guilty of committing.

The lawyers and the families insisted on being allowed in the courtroom, so they were finally allowed in to observe. The police threatened them and said they would be thrown out of the courtroom if they did not "behave." They even told Ms. You Jinying's daughter that she had to stop crying or she would not be able to remain in the courtroom and see her mother.

During the trial, personnel from the public security bureau, the procurator, and the judges were supervised by officials from the Political and Legal Committee. They sat at two side tables. The public security organisations falsified evidence by hiring a dishonest person who tried to frame the practitioners in an attempt to sentence them to serve three to seven years in jail.

During the trial, Ms. Yuan Yulong exposed the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) evil deeds by talking about the man-made famine that caused the deaths of countless Chinese. Wu Jun, the presiding judge, interrupted her, saying it had nothing to do with the hearing. Ms. Yuan Yulong then said, “So let me talk about Falun Gong.” Wu said, “OK, good, let's talk about Falun Gong.” He later realized that he shouldn't have said that.

Ms. Gao Yumin told the court that the public security bureau did not list “Falun Gong” as one of the “seven identified evil cults.” Wu immediately interrupted her. Ms. Gao said, “It was you who asked us to talk about Falun Gong. And now you won't let me to finish what I have to say. Why did you ask me to speak?”

Wu repeatedly tried to stop the lawyer and shouted at the practitioners. The lawyer's compelling argument won applause from the audience many times. Seeming nervous, Wu left the courtroom.

It was later reported that one of the court officials said, “We all know that Falun Gong practitioners are good people, but we don't have a final say about their situations. If we acquit them, we would have to go to prison ourselves for them.” It appears that the judges are just tools of the CCP.