(Minghui.org) Four women from Huaihua City, Hunan Province, were sentenced last year for seeking the release of a detained Falun Gong practitioner. When their appeal hearing was convened this February, the presiding judge, Shao Hongchao, announced that if anyone questioned his impartiality in overseeing the case, that person could request his recusal.
Ms. Tang Qingying immediately asked that judge Shao excuse himself from the trial since he was the one who sentenced the practitioner whose freedom she and the other three women had fought for.
In response, judge Shao adjourned the trial and announced a new hearing set for March 9, 2015.
Ms. Tang, Ms. Xiao Guiying, Ms. Yin Qiuyang, and Ms. Tang Kaiju were arrested on April 8 for calling for the release of a local practitioner. Practitioners themselves, the four women were quickly targeted by the local police. They were tried on July 30, 2014 and sentenced two months later, Ms. Tang Kaiju to three and a half years and the other three to three years each.
The practitioners appealed to Huaihua City Intermediate Court, which set the first hearing for February 12 of this year. About 20 friends and relatives were allowed inside the courtroom, and they reported that the four women all displayed signs of declining health, likely the result of mistreatment while detained.
Families and friends are calling for people to help secure the release of the four women, who have committed no crime in seeking to free a fellow practitioner or in practicing Falun Gong.
Perpetrators' Contact Information:
Huaihua City Intermediate Court:Shao Hongchao, chief judge: +86-13974550984 (Cell)Hu Sihai, juror: +86-13574577207 (Cell), +86-745-2719917 (Home)
Officials who harassed friends and relatives outside the courthouseLei Jianhua, Zhongfang County 610 Office: +86-13874577611
Yang Fan, Yang Hua, and Zhang Zhiqun, Hecheng County 610 OfficeDing Shengwu, deputy director, Hecheng County 610 OfficeWu Jun, Hecheng District Domestic Security Division
Related Articles:
Practitioners’ Families Appeal Their Loved Ones' Illegal ArrestFour Women Tried for Seeking the Release of Other Practitioners
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