Rejecting Evidence, Singapore Court Rushes to Shameless Verdict

The third trial of the "July 20 Case", a false accusation against Falun Gong practitioners by the Singapore government, was scheduled from November 28th to December 1st 2006. Without any legal representation, the two Falun Gong practitioners had to defend themselves during the trial. The judge, prosecutor and court police conducted the trial under high pressure to close it and worked closely with each other to achieve the goal. Soon after the trial started, the prosecutor suddenly cancelled the plan for witnesses and evidence and rejected the witnesses and evidence provided by the defendants under the excuse of irrelevance. The judge announced the verdict on the morning of the next day. The two defendants pleaded to file a criminal motion to the High Court to challenge the judge's rejection of the defendants' witnesses and evidence and to summon new witnesses. However, they were informed the process had been changed and their plea rejected.

To close the case quickly, the judge even rejected the defendants' legitimate plea for more time to prepare for their closing statement. He forced the case to close on the third day and declared the defendants guilty. Ms. Ng Chye Huay was fined 1,500 Singapore dollars or 15 days in prison if the fine was not paid. Mr. Erh Boon Tiong was fined 1,000 Singapore dollars or ten days in prison.

The two defendants would not accept it as a fair trial and refused to pay the fine. They pleaded to appeal. However, unlike the convention that verdict is carried out after the outcome of the appeal while the defendants are on bail, the judge ruled the appeal must be after the imprison term is completed. Such ruling only happens when the defendant is a criminal who seriously endangers social security.

Denied their right to appeal, Ms. Ng and Mr. Erh were taken away by police immediately. According to the police, Mr. Erh would serve his term in Queenstown Jail and Ms. Ng would serve in Changi Women's Jail.

On July 20th 2006, three Falun Gong practitioners, Ng Chye Huay, Erh Boon Tiong and Chen Peiyu peacefully sat across the street from the Chinese Embassy and displayed a banner stating "Hunger Strike to Protest against Inhuman Persecution of Falun Gong by the CCP. Stop Persecution of Falun Gong in China." They were charged by the prosecution for having "displayed insulting writing... within the sight of persons likely to be harassed by it". The three Falun Gong practitioners couldn't accept such an outrageous charge and decided to explain the true story in court. The trial was scheduled for August 28th, but the charge against Chen was suddenly dropped right before the trial. The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority suspended her green card. Seventy-three old Ms. Chen was forced to leave Singapore hastily.

It Was Almost a Secret Trial

Most of the courtrooms in the Subordinate Court can accommodate sixty to seventy people. The trials involving Falun Gong practitioners were heard in rooms of such size in 2001 and 2004. However, the July 20th Case was scheduled in Courtroom 35 and 36, where there is only one seat for a defendant. It was hard for Ng and Erh to be there at the same time, much less if Chen were added.

The number of people who wanted to attended the hearing was the largest. Nearly a hundred Falun Gong practitioners showed support on site. Only a few were allowed in. Most of them had to stand outside for days. Some Falun Gong practitioners came all the way from foreign countries for the hearings, but they never got a chance to get into the courtrooms. On August 28th, eight Falun Gong practitioners were allowed in. Four seats were saved for secret police and media. The case couldn't close as they planned at that time. As more and more pressure toward the Singapore government built up, the pretended openness was gone. At the end, only four Falun Gong practitioners were allowed in. A larger number of police were sent in to take seats. More than twenty police guarded all entrances of the courtroom to prevent supporters from getting in.

Strict Restriction on Witness and Evidence Disqualifies This "Trial"

The trial couldn't even be called a secret trial. It was a puppet show in essence. The court was under high pressure from the Singapore government to close the case. Everyone in the court, including the judge, prosecutor and even police officers, cooperated with each other closely to achieve this goal. They strictly limited witnesses and evidence. A criminal trial should be based on witnesses and evidence. A trial cannot be conducted without these elements.

Falun Gong practitioners were given four charges. One thing in common about these four charges is the shortage of witnesses and evidence provided by the prosecutor. Two of them were about distributing flyers where Falun Gong practitioners were charged for illegal assembly. The other two were about the sitting demonstration in front of the Chinese Embassy, where practitioners were charged for harassment. Prosecutors provided little evidence to support any of the four charges. It was a sharp contrast to a case in 2004, when more than twenty police officers served as witnesses and a large number of items were provided as evidence. The prosecutors chose a different strategy this time.

The July 20th Case originally had two witnesses, an investigator and a photographer, and two pieces of evidence: the banner and the videotape. When the defendants questioned the witnesses, many questions were disrupted by the judge and the prosecutor. For example, "Why were the charges against Chen Peiyu dropped, but not the charges against us?" "Why do you refuse to admit the persecution of Falun Gong is actually occurring?" The judge and the prosecutor stopped these questions as irrelevant. They also rejected a lot of evidence provided by the defendants.

When it was the second witness' turn, the prosecutor suddenly announced the second witness, the photographer, had been removed from this case and asked the defendants to provide their evidence right away. The judge granted his request.

Defendant Mr. Erh said the bottom line was whether the persecution of Falun Gong by the CCP was a fact. He provided more evidence of the persecution, but all were rejected as irrelevant. Mr. Erh and Ms. Ng pleaded to summon more witnesses but were rejected under the excuse of being absent. The two Falun Gong practitioners asked the judge, "If you treat absence as irrelevance, how do you treat a case where a murderer hired someone else to kill?" The judge ignored such questions.

Defendants Would Not Accept It as a Trial

When the judge asked defendants to make a final statement, Ms. Ng refused because she didn't think it was a trial, "The whole process has been trampled on. What is the point of a final statement?"

Mr. Erh took this opportunity to say what he had wanted to say during the trial but was disrupted. He said, "I went to the Chinese Embassy to ask the CCP to stop the inhuman persecution. I did it out of my conscience and compassion. Close to three thousand Falun Gong practitioners have been killed from the persecution. The number of undocumented cases is much larger. Many practitioners were killed for their organs.

"The verdict was based on possibility and speculation. It was based on one policeman's (Policeman Ng) thought that the banner may possibly insult someone. However, if the persecution actually is occurring, the charge is groundless.

"The key is whether the persecution is true. In the past few days, we have been trying to prove it is true. We provided the United Nations' report, President Bush's letter condemning the persecution, Resolution 188 and 304 by the American Congress and the independent investigation report by Canadian investigators. All were rejected. Many foreign media have reported the persecution. Lee Kuan Yew (first Prime Minister of Singapore from 1959 to 1990) recently said in Dallas that he didn't know why China would persecute Falun Gong. It indicates he knew the existence of the persecution.

"Everyone should have conscience. The world is not for the wicked. The wicked will be punished and pay for it. It is a heavenly law. Even though the Singapore government wouldn't allow us to talk of the persecution, we will keep on no matter how difficult it is. We will keep doing it until the persecution ends."

Many local media have paid close attention to this case since the first trial in July. Media has followed up on all the trials in the Subordinate Court and High Court, even pre-trial meetings, though most reports were distorted and slanderous. However, they all disappeared from the court on August 28th. They became silent together.