Lawyers NOT Allowed to Plead Not Guilty for Falun Gong Practitioners; The Trial of Mr. Li Jian-hui, Falun Gong Contact Person in Shen-Zhen City, Was Postponed.

The trial of Mr. Li Jian-hui, Falun Gong contact person in the southern border city of Shen-Zhen, was postponed to January 24. The reason was that the two lawyers hired by Mr. Li insisted to plead not guilty for him, but this was not allowed by the legal system controlled by the Chinese Communist regime.

The two lawyers hired by Mr. Li Jian-hui were not practitioners of Falun Gong. However, after they studied Mr. Li's case, both of them decided to plead not guilty for him. However, two days before the trial, the Chinese communist authorities imposed great pressures on these two lawyers through all kinds of means. Finally, the two lawyers were forced to cancel their contract with Mr. Li. Therefore, the trial could not start according to the announced schedule. Now the Court has appointed a lawyer for Mr. Li Jian-hui. If Mr. Li refused to accept this lawyer, he had to defend himself in the Court.

According to the Chinese "law of criminal law suits" and "law of lawyers", the defendant has the right to find lawyers to defend for him or her. The lawyers of the defendant have the right to defend independently. They are fully entitled to plead not guilty for the defendant, and this should not be interfered by any judicial departments or administrative departments.

The two lawyers hired by Mr. Li Jian-hui were simply trying to exercise their rights conferred by the law. It was completely legal and fair for them to plead not guilty for the defendant after investigating the case. But this was simply not allowed by the Chinese communist regime that always claims to rule the country by law.

This clearly indicated the fear of the Chinese communist authorities. They have been viciously slandering at Falun Gong practitioners using their propaganda machines with a style that characterized the notorious Culture Revolution. But they simply could not provide any reasonable evidence to support their groundless accusations in any show-trials of Falun Gong practitioners.

It was also reported by AP that the Chinese police detained nine Hong Kong journalists who tried to cover the trial of Mr. Li.