(Minghui.org) A resident from Yi County, Hebei Province, is requesting a new trial with a new judge as she fights charges that she “used a cult to undermine law enforcement,” a standard pretext used by the Chinese communist regime to frame Falun Gong practitioners.
Ms. Wu Guimin, a 61-year-old vegetable farmer, was tried by presiding judge Du Qiguo on March 30 in a hearing riddled with violations of legal procedure.
Her lawyer argued that there has never been any law that criminalizes Falun Gong; hence his client should never have been prosecuted for exercising her constitutional right to freedom of belief.
The lawyer was never able to finish his defense arguments, because he was removed from the courtroom when he protested the judge's failure to stop the prosecutor from interrupting him.
He filed a complaint against the judge on the day of the trial, citing lack of impartiality and numerous violations of law during the trial. He asked the Procuratorate to hold Du accountable for violating legal procedures, to issue a Procuratorate opinion to the Yi County Court, and to order the Yi County Court re-try Ms. Wu.
Ms. Wu's husband filed a separate complaint with the Procuratorate against Du for being obviously partial to the prosecutor and demanded that Du recuse himself from the case.
Ms. Wu was arrested along with her husband on September 6, 2015, for telling people about the persecution of Falun Gong. Her husband was released that day, but Ms. Wu was sent to a detention center. Their home was illegally searched, and the police confiscated Falun Gong books and 6,500 yuan in cash.
Previous Incidents of Persecution
Ms. Wu had been previously arrested seven times since the Chinese Communist regime started persecuting Falun Gong in 1999. She was sent to a forced labor camp for three years; her family was fined and had 13,000 yuan extorted from them; and her home was ransacked three times.
Ms. Wu was arrested for posting information about Falun Gong in 2004. She was sent to Baoding Forced Labor Camp for three years. In 2001, she was taken from home and illegally detained for over eight months. In 2000 alone, she was arrested three times and fined 10,000 yuan.
In 1999, Ms. Wu went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong. She was brought back to Yi County and detained for a month. She was viciously beaten multiple times, and was knocked unconscious at least once. The day after she left for Beijing, over 80 people from the Yi County Police Department and the local government broke into her house. They smashed windows, furniture, and appliances and left the house in ruins.
Like many Falun Gong practitioners, Ms. Wu has filed a criminal complaint against former Chinese President Jiang Zemin for launching the brutal persecution of Falun Gong.
Related article: Attorney Files Complaint Against Presiding Judge
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