(Minghui.org) Three Benxi City, Liaoning Province residents are facing trial at the Hengren County Court on August 18, 2020 for their faith in Falun Gong.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is an ancient spiritual and meditation discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
The three Falun Gong practitioners, Mr. Deng Yulin, Ms. Zhang Limin and Mr. Zhang Pengzhu (no relation), were arrested on May 23, 2019 with two other practitioners, Ms. Yang Liwei and Mr. Hu Lin, for distributing informational materials about Falun Gong.
Ms. Yang and Ms. Zhang were sent to the Benxi City Detention Center; Mr. Deng and Mr. Zhang were sent to the Hengren County Detention Center; Mr. Hu was sent to the Faku County Detention Center.
Ms. Yang’s lawyer visited her at the detention center shortly after her arrest, but was asked to leave ten minutes into the meeting, after the guards realized that the Benxi Domestic Security Office had barred Ms. Yang from having visitors.
Mr. Hu, an aircraft engineer who had been on the police Wanted List after he escaped a previous arrest, was sentenced to two years on June 20, 2019 by the Faku County Court. He passed away at Kangjiashan Prison on February 16, 2020 after being denied medical parole, even though he had been in critical condition from a hunger strike and torture.
The other four practitioners were indicted by the Hengren County Procuratorate on August 13, 2019. Ms. Yang suffered multiple organ failure due to abuse at the detention center and has been released on bail.
The three practitioners who remain in custody have been denied visits by their lawyers for the past few months. Their lawyers have also been pressured by the Justice Bureau and threatened with “consequences” for representing the practitioners and entering not guilty pleas for them.
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