(Minghui.org) A retired teacher in Linshu County, Shandong Province, stood trial on September 13, 2021, for her faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Yang Guangzhen, 62, was arrested and had her home ransacked on April 1, 2020, by Wang Shiqiang, the deputy head of Junan County Police Department, Guo Qiang, the deputy head of Domestic Security Office, and Wang Botao, the chief of Chengxi Police Station.
After being held in a metal cage and interrogated overnight at the police station, she was released on bail the next day.
In later October, Guo submitted Ms. Yang’s case to the Junan County Procuratorate, which then transferred her case to the Linshu County Procuratorate in early November. Prosecutor Liu Yan was assigned to handle her case. When Ms. Yang’s family defender reviewed her case document at the procuratorate in December, they submitted a letter urging Liu to dismiss her case.
In January 2021, Ms. Yang’s family filed a complaint against Guo with the Junan County Procuratorate, accusing him of illegally breaking in and searching their home. The prosecutor didn’t take any action regarding their complaint.
Guo submitted more materials to the Linshu County Procuratorate against Ms. Yang in March 2021. After Liu indicted her days later and moved her case to the Linshu County Court, Ms. Yang’s family filed a complaint against Liu with the Linshu County Procuratorate on March 18, accusing her of arbitrarily indicting their loved one and ignoring the violation of legal procedure by the police.
The Linshu County Court then returned Ms. Yang’s case to the procuratorate, citing insufficient evidence.
In late March, Liu came with Guo to Ms. Yang’s neighborhood and fabricated more evidence against her. She submitted Ms. Yang’s case to the court the second time in early April.
Ms. Yang later applied to have Liu recused from her case. One day before her hearing in September, Zhu Lu, a director from the procuratorate, attempted to pressure Ms. Yang and her lawyer to drop the recusal request against Liu. They refused.
At the beginning of the hearing, the presiding judge, Zhuo Shan, announced that Ms. Yang’s request to have Liu recused from her case was rejected. He also rejected Ms. Yang’s other request to exclude unverified evidence against her.
Ms. Yang’s lawyer argued that no law ever criminalized Falun Gong in China. He added that the prosecutor failed to provide any evidence to demonstrate how Ms. Yang undermined law enforcement, the pretext used by the Chinese courts to imprison Falun Gong practitioners.
Ms. Yang detailed how the police arbitrarily arrested her on the street, forcibly searched her body, tied her in a metal chair, and locked her in a metal cage. She added that the police used insulting and humiliating language on her during her arrest and interrogation. She refuted the charges against her and argued that there is no legal basis for the persecution.
Ms. Yang’s lawyer added how the male police officer inappropriately searched Ms. Yang’s body, ransacked their home without a warrant, failed to provide a confiscation list, and fabricated evidence to frame her.
Ms. Yang said in her final statement that she hopes the judge could make the decision based on his conscience and stop following the communist regime in persecuting good people.
Perpetrators’ contact information:
Zhuo Shan (禚山), judge of Linshu County Court: +86-18669567619, +86-13953979678Liu Yan (刘艳), prosecutor of Linshu County Procuratorate: +86-19853970197Yang Ming (杨明), secretary of Linshu County Political and Legal Affairs Committee: +86-539-6211830Guo Qiang (郭强), deputy head of Junan County Domestic Security Office: +86-15753999729
(More perpetrators’ contact information is available in the original Chinese article.)
Related reports:
Practitioners Illegally Arrested in Junan County and Sent to Labor Camps
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