Huanggu District Court in Shenyang City Released Four Falun Gong Practitioners at Their Second Trial

More and more Falun Gong practitioners who were detained before the Beijing Olympics have been brought to trial in many cities throughout China. Numerous lawyers have stood up to defend practitioners' innocence, which has created a shock wave in the Chinese legal community. The positive results: more and more judges have started to wake up and make fair decisions that will stand the test of history.

On February 6th, 2009, Huanggu District Court in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, convened a second trial for six practitioners including Ms. Wu Yefeng. Four of the practitioners--Mr. Luo Huaiyu, Mr. Zhao Guoliang, Mr Cai Zongbin, and Ms. Liu Guifeng--were released without further criminal charges being brought against them. They were allowed to return home after ten months of detention.

Ms. Wu Yefeng, however, was sentenced to five years in prison, and Mr. Zheng Yi was sentenced to one year in prison.

Prior to the Beijing Olympics, citing security reasons, agents from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in Shenyang City arrested more than 100 practitioners. Ms. Wu Yefeng and Ms. Liu Guifeng were held at the Shenyang Detention Centre; Mr. Zhou Guoliang, Mr. Cai Zongbin, Mr. Zheng Yi, and Mr. Luo Huaiyu were held at the Huanggu Detention Centre.

On December 22nd, 2008, Huanggu District Court tried practitioners Zhao Zhanpo and Chen Xinye. Two lawyers from Beijing successfully defended them. This event stunned the entire judicial community in Shenyang City. During the six-hour trial, lawyers Jiang Tianyong and Lin Xiaojian applied the principles of law to single out the policies and current laws that the CCP is citing as justification for its despicable acts and drew attention to the unconstitutional nature of the communist regime's persecution of Falun Gong. The defence completely stonewalled the judge and the prosecutors. Judge Lin Fenglei finally sat silently at his desk. A grand jury member from the local Party school told the judge, "This was a lesson for us!" When a court police officer emerged from the courtroom, he made the "V" sign to the waiting relatives, practitioners, and other supporters. He also said jokingly, "Today's court success belongs to you, Falun Gong." [Note: Most judges in China are merely political CCP appointees and have no background or training in matters pertaining to the law.]

That the innocence of practitioners was successfully defended in a trial in Shenyang City stunned politicians. Local lawyers were encouraged by the incident. For the follow-up trial for practitioners including Ms. Wu Yefeng in the Huanggu District, seven additional lawyers from Shenyang City joined the defence to help defend the practitioners.

Agents from the city 610 office² were frightened when they realized ten lawyers were defending the practitioners. Huanggu District Court officials kept postponing the trial date, from the end of 2008 to February 2009. At the same time, the Shenyang City Justice Bureau and the Huanggu District Justice Department used different means to threaten the lawyers, trying to prevent them from defending the practitioners. The lawyers did not cave in under the pressure. They asked the pertinent officials to present written documentation as to why the lawyers should not proceed. But since Justice Bureau officials could not comply, the lawyers insisted on their right to defend the practitioners.

On February 6th, 2009, the court convened the trial of the six practitioners, including Ms. Wu Yefeng. To prevent the lawyers from defending their clients, court officials prevented the ten lawyers from entering the courtroom for "security reasons" [this was previously reported on the Minghui website (Chinese version of Clearwisdom)]. The trial ended inconclusively in the absence of defence lawyers. For the court officials to refuse to let the lawyers enter the courtroom truly reflected the unconstitutional nature of the persecution of Falun Gong and the fear of those who commit wrongdoings against Falun Gong. Such reprehensible conduct made a mockery of justice and was laughed at worldwide.

The ten defence lawyers issued a strong protested. They mailed signed petition letters to the justice departments at various levels in the regime and also asked lawyers nationwide for support. The ten lawyers have received requests for interviews from overseas media. Huanggu District Court judges have also received phone calls from concerned people in China and overseas.

Although Huanggu District court officials released the four practitioners without any further criminal charges, the gesture was still unacceptable because the practitioners had not committed any wrongdoing by practising Falun Gong and following the principals of Truth-Compassion-Forbearance. They should not have been arrested in the first place! Not only should they have been pronounced innocent and released, but those from the 610 Office and the police officers who arrested practitioners should have been charged and presented with lawsuits.

In the decade since the communist regime began the persecution of Falun Gong, practitioners have been handed heavy sentences in each case that went to trial and eventually incarcerated. This time the four practitioners were released without further criminal charges. Even though they were not pronounced innocent before being released, it was still the first time in ten years for such an outcome China, sending a positive message to other practitioners and creating hope that righteousness will eventually prevail.

More than once in recent months have capable, ethical lawyers, in conjunction with practitioners' consistent effort to explain the facts about Falun Gong to the Shenyang Justice Department, declared defendant practitioners "innocent" and shocked the forces led by the 610 Office who have persecuted and are still persecuting kind hearted Falun Gong practitioners in Shenyang City.

The spirit of Falun Gong practitioners and lawyers not afraid of the might of political power have awakened local officials and the public to a more rational point of view. As more and more people start learning the truth and supporting practitioners, more lawyers will bravely stand up to challenge the CCP's outrageous, nonsensical policies and help practitioners defend their innocence.

In mid February 2009, Political and Justice Committee Head Zhou Yongkang, one of those responsible for starting the persecution, went to Shenyang. He attempted to prevent lawyers in many locales from defending the innocence of Falun Gong and pressured the local justice department. Some of the local judges and officials superficially appeased Zhou Yongkang, but had their own ideas about what was good for the future.

Other, misguided officials from the Shenyang Justice Bureau threatened lawyers, saying, "If you keep on defending Falun Gong practitioners, we will suspend your licence to practise law."

Note

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/2009/3/14/197123.html