On November 18th, 2009, the court in Miyi County, Sichuan Province, put practitioner Ms. Gong Shunhui on trial. Ms. Gong's attorney, Li Jinglin of Haosheng Law Firm in Beijing, entered a plea of not guilty for Ms. Gong. During the proceedings, the court staff tried to interfere with the attorney.
During the session, the prosecutor, Zhu Zhengfu, interrupted and stopped Ms. Gong from speaking. Attorney Li Jinglin's statement was also interrupted several times. When the attorney said, "There is no law stating that Falun Gong is a cult," the presiding judge, Zhou Kaiqun, said that the attorney was trying to incite people. The attorney said that he did not incite anyone.
At noon the judge called for a recess even though Attorney Li had not been given sufficient time to present Ms. Gong's his case. During the recess, the court staff threatened the attorney not to defend his client.
In the afternoon session, the attorney finished his argument, in which he stated that the defendant, Ms. Gong Shunhui, had committed no crime in believing in and spreading information about Falun Gong, and asked the court release her immediately.
The judge and other participants in the trial made no immediate response. They said that they would have a meeting to discuss the case and quickly brought the session to a close.
During the session, officers Zhou Lin, Li Xiesong, and Zhu Zhaohui were waiting outside the courthouse. They threatened the practitioners who were standing outside the building to leave the area. Officer Chen Youjun made a video recording of the people around the court building.
Participants:
Presiding judge Zhou Kaiqun
Prosecutor Zhu Zhengfu
Video photographer Qiu Ganlin
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2009/11/21/213004.html
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