(Minghui.org) A Xinbin County woman appeared in court for a second time to face charges of “using a cult to undermine law enforcement,” a standard pretext used by the Chinese communist regime in its attempt to frame and imprison Falun Gong practitioners.
Ms. Sun Jing was arrested on December 7, 2016 and has since remained at Fushun City Detention Center. The local procuratorate twice returned her case to police, citing insufficient evidence. The police, however, managed to persuade the procuratorate to eventually indict Ms. Sun and forward her case to the local court.
Ms. Sun first appeared in court on July 25, 2017. The prosecution evidence included Falun Gong books and informational materials confiscated from her home. The arresting officers even counted the 1,700 loose pages of blank copy paper confiscated during the home search as 280 table calendars bearing Falun Gong messages.
The prosecutor cited as legal basis two notices issued by China's Administration of Press and Publications in July 1999 to ban the publication of Falun Gong books. Ms. Sun’s lawyer countered that the Administration issued a repeal of the ban in 2011 and that it was fully legal for practitioners to own Falun Gong books.
More importantly, the lawyer argued that no law in China has ever criminalized Falun Gong or labeled it a cult, and that his client had every right to possess, produce, and disseminate Falun Gong books and materials.
The lawyer proceeded to point out the police violation of legal procedure. The arresting officers ransacked Ms. Sun’s home without her being present. They had her husband sign the written records of home search, but not the inventory of confiscated items. By law, both documents require signatures.
The indictment indicated that eyewitnesses of the home search were also listed as prosecution witnesses, which the lawyer argued violated criminal code procedure.
When the hearing resumed on December 8, the lawyer pointed out two more incidents of police violation of legal procedures. First, police should turn on their digital recorder when searching private citizens’ homes. The agents that arrested Ms. Sun failed to produce any footage of their home search. They claimed that their recorder was broken at the time of the arrest. The presiding judge said it was okay to not show video footage of the home search. The lawyer argued that by law, there must be such evidence available for examination in court.
Secondly, the lawyer learned that the police had not produced a search warrant when they ransacked Ms. Sun’s home. He concluded that the arrest of his client was illegal.
He again demanded an acquittal of Ms. Sun. The judge adjourned the second hearing without issuing a verdict.
Related Reports:
Liaoning Woman Remains Detained, With Her Case Twice Dismissed
Related Article in Chinese:辽宁新宾县孙静遭非法庭审-律师要求无罪释放
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