(Minghui.org) Two Taian City, Shandong Province, residents stood trial on July 15, 2021, for their faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Xie Qingling and Mr. Gao Fangqiang were tried through a video conference at the Taian City Detention Center. Only one of Ms. Xie’s family members attended the hearing in the Taishan District Court. No one in Mr. Gao’s family was allowed to attend.
According to Ms. Xie’s family member, the video quality was very poor and sometimes they lost the audio. Ms. Xie appeared to have aged tremendously after eight months of incarceration. Her voice was raspy and she said she was suffering from high blood pressure.
Both practitioners were represented by court-appointed lawyers, who were instructed to enter guilty pleas for them. The practitioners entered not guilty pleas for themselves. When Mr. Gao was making his final statement, presiding judge Shen Yuxian interrupted him and adjourned the hearing.
Ms. Xie, a 64-year-old retired chemical fertilizer plant employee, and Mr. Gao, a 51-year-old business owner, were arrested on November 24, 2020, when they went to nearby Liangzhuang Town to deliver informational materials about Falun Gong. They were stopped by the police on the way back and escorted back to Tai’an City.
The police went to Ms. Xie’s home at 5 p.m. that day and broke in. They arrested her husband Mr. Li Cunguo, who is 61 and retired, and confiscated her Falun Gong books and materials, a computer, and a printer.
During the raid, Ms. Yang Huixia, 57, a retired teacher, stopped by to visit Ms. Xie, only to be arrested and have her home ransacked the next day.
Ms. Mi Peixia was also arrested when she went to Ms. Xie’s during the raid to look for her husband, Mr. Gao. The police ransacked her place and confiscated their Falun Gong books and materials.
Mr. Li, Ms. Yang, and Ms. Mi were later released, but Ms. Xie and Mr. Gao were held in custody. The police submitted their case to the Taishan District Procuratorate, which indicted them and moved their case to the Taishan District Court.
Perpetrators’ contact information:
Zhang Lin (张林), president of Taishan District Court: +86-538-8625101Shen Yuxian (沈玉贤), presiding judge: +86-538-8625173Li Xiaoming (李晓明), deputy director of Taishan District Domestic Security Office: +86-18653898107Tian Lin (田琳), director of Taishan District 610 Office: +86-18562338185
(More perpetrators’ contact information is available in the original Chinese article.)
Related report:
Tai’an City, Shandong Province: Eleven Residents Arrested in Two Days for Their Faith
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