On the morning of July 15th, 2010, the Longquanqi District Court in Chengdu City, Sichuan Province sentenced Mr. Luo Changyong to five years in prison, and Ms. Chen Chihui to three-and-a-half-years in prison.
Mr. Luo, 46, and Ms. Chen, 54, are from Xindu District, Chengdu City, Sichuan Province. Officers from the Huangtu Town Police Station in Longquanyi District arrested the two practitioners while they were travelling through the town at around 10:00 p.m. on September 20th, 2009. The practitioners were tortured during their subsequent detention.
In court, prosecutors only presented witness statements, and none of the witnesses showed up in court.
Mr. Luo told the court that the photos used by the prosecutors were obtained through torture interrogation. Officers first tried to make the practitioners admit to making the Falun Gong banners and stickers in Huangtu Town. After they denied this, the officers deprived them of any sleep for five days. Mr. Luo was slapped in the face, and handcuffed to a window. One day, an officer gave Mr. Luo a bowl of food. After he finished only one-third of it, he began feeling dizzy and fell asleep. The officers then took him to the places where Falun Gong signs were posted and took photographs.
A defence attorney said that the witness statements and photos were gathered improperly. The police searched the practitioners and found them carrying Falun Gong informational materials, which are legal. Falun Gong is a belief. Article 35 and Article 36 of the Chinese Constitution guarantee the freedom of belief and the freedom of publication.
The judge declared the practitioners guilty, citing Article 300 of the Criminal Law, and sentenced Mr. Luo to five-years and Ms. Chen to three-and-a-half-years in prison.
The defence attorney pointed out that Article 300 of the Criminal Law is against the Chinese Constitution.
Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2010/7/21/227323.html
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