Mr. Zhen Zhanbo and Mr. Chen Xinye Tried by Court in Shenyang City

On December 22nd, 2008, the Huanggu District Court in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province tried Falun Gong practitioners Mr. Zhao Zhanbo and Mr. Chen Xinye. A judgement was not announced at the trial, which ended at 4:30 p.m. Lawyer Jiang Tianyong was the defence lawyer for these practitioners.

Both Mr. Zhao Zhanbo and Mr. Chen Xinye looked very thin at the trial. The prosecutors were Du Lan from Huanggu District, Shenyang City, Lin Fenglei (the judge) from Huanggu District Court, a jury member from the Chinese Communist Party School and a number of police officers.

Relatives of the two practitioners hired three lawyers from Beijing and the local area to defend the practitioners. The lawyers interviewed the two practitioners and reviewed all of their files. They came to the conclusion that Mr. Zhao Zhanbo and Mr. Chen Xinye broke no laws and therefore decided to argue for "not guilty."

During the six-hour trial, Judge Lin Fenglei, due to pressure, limited the time for the defence. The arguments were intense. The court was forced to adjourn twice. The debates were so intense that the jury members from the party school commented to the judge, "This is giving us a lecture."

Mr. Zhao Zhanbo and Mr. Chen Xinye stated during the trial that the city's police tortured them during interrogation at the Gaodeng Hotel in Shenyang City. The prosecutor's evidence was some CDs, and a thousand blank sheets of copy paper. Defence lawyer Jiang Tianyong asked the Procuratorate to investigate this.

The Huanggu District Court only allowed two relatives and designated defence lawyers to be present, and refused the entry of all other relatives and lawyers.

At the same time, five other cases were on trial. The court lied to the relatives of other accused defendants by saying that too many Falun Gong practitioners had showed up and taken up all of the space, so they only allowed one member of the accused's family to attend. This deception caused people to be resentful of Falun Gong practitioners. This is an example of how the authorities incite public hatred toward Falun Gong.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2008/12/24/192165.html