(Minghui.org) After being illegally detained for more than six months, two Falun Gong practitioners from Fuping County in Shaanxi Province were tried on the morning of July 29, 2014, at the county court. Their lawyers made a strong argument in defense of their clients and demanded they should be acquitted.
Ms. Hou Huaning and Ms. Lin Zhengzheng were arrested on the afternoon of January 25, 2014, by officers from the Fuping County Domestic Security Division, and the Zhuangli Township Police Station while distributing and posting informational materials about Falun Gong in Zhuangli Township. Someone had reported them to the authorities. The police also ransacked their homes.
The county court put Ms. Hou and Ms. Lin on trial on July 29, 2014. Prior to the trial, their family members and lawyers submitted a written proposal to the Procuratorate to request the case be resolved without going to trial. However, officials of the Fuping County Political and Legal Affairs Committee and the local 610 Office colluded with officials of the county police department, the county Procuratorate, and the county court to file a case against the practitioners.
Both women shared the benefits of practicing Falun Gong at the trial, and exposed the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) lies about it that had been broadcasted on state-run media. They also stated that believing in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance didn't break the law.
Their lawyers pointed out that Falun Gong is not listed as one of the 14 cults publicly identified by the CCP, and their clients have the right to freedom of religion and speech under the Chinese Constitution. They also argued against the allegation of their clients being involved in criminal activities that “undermined law enforcement,” and demanded that both practitioners be acquitted and released immediately.
The judge became increasingly agitated and interrupted the lawyers as the trial went on.
Ms. Hou, 46, is a middle school teacher in Zhuangli Township; while Ms. Lin, 58, is a retired employee of Shaanxi Rolling Machinery Factory. Both women have been persecuted for upholding their belief in Falun Gong and telling people the facts about the persecution. They were sentenced to more than a year of forced labor in July 2008 by officials of the Xi'an City Gaoxin Police Department.