(Minghui.org) A Weifang City, Shandong Province, resident stood trial on June 14, 2022, at a court in nearby Jiangsu Province, after she was reported for distributing information about her faith in Falun Gong.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Yu Lanfang, 55, stayed at her daughter’s home in Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province in recent years to help care for her grandson. A group of officers broke into her daughter’s home at 6:30 a.m. on January 28, 2021, and arrested her. Ms. Yu’s Falun Gong books and cellphone were confiscated.
The police claimed that someone reported seeing Falun Gong materials being distributed in their subdivision. Through searching surveillance videos, the police saw Ms. Yu enter the area and suspected her of distributing the materials.
After 36 days of detention, Ms. Yu was released on bail on March 4, 2021. The police later submitted her case to the Wujiang District Procuratorate, which then indicted her and moved her case to the Wujiang District Court.
Ms. Yu appeared in the Wujiang District Court in Suzhou on June 14, 2022. Those who attended the hearing included her lawyer Mr. Zhang Chuanli, presiding judge Liu Lipeng, prosecutor Huang Xiufeng, two more judges, a court clerk, and four bailiffs.
Ms. Yu’s daughter was allowed into the courtroom initially but was ordered by the presiding judge to leave in the middle of the hearing, as the judge claimed that she was listed as a prosecution witness and should be recused from the hearing. Ms. Yu’s son-in-law was routinely stopped at the entrance of the courthouse, as the bailiffs recognized that he was listed as a prosecution witness.
Recounting Police Abuse
At the beginning of the hearing, the presiding judge asked Ms. Yu whether she was subjected to prosecution before.
Ms. Yu replied, “Everything I endured is illegal. I practice Falun Gong because my ailments were cured.”
“You can only answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’” the judge said.
Ms. Yu went on to say, “When I was arrested in 2000 for going to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong, the local police beat me with rubber batons. Both of my legs were covered with bruises.”
The judge immediately stopped her, “I’m not asking you this. I’m asking whether you were detained for disrupting social order.”
“It’s the police who violated the law. I didn’t do anything wrong.”
Ms. Yu continued to describe the abuse she suffered following her latest arrest. “Five officers from the Fengqiao Police Station broke into my daughter’s home at around 6 a.m. on January 28, 2021. None of them wore their police uniform. They handcuffed me and took me to the police station. One officer twisted my arm, pushed me up against the wall and took my photo.”
“They handcuffed me to a metal chair for over 30 hours. The chair was so cold. [The prolonged sitting] caused my legs to swell. I wasn’t allowed to sleep or stand up to move my legs a bit. When they finally loosened me from the chair at around 3 p.m. on January 29, my legs and feet were so swollen that I had a hard time walking. I had to lean against the wall and walked very slowly to the restroom. Despite the physical torment, the police constantly ordered me to cooperate with them.”
“Two officers came one night and asked me to sign a piece of paper. They said it’s to increase my penalty. I shook my head and refused to sign it. One of them threatened to sentence me to prison. Due to physical and mental distress, I began to suffer headache, dizziness, tinnitus, nausea, palpitations, and chest tightness.”
“My two-year-old grandson was terrified witnessing my arrest. He had a fever for three days. I worried about him and couldn’t eat. Then one officer threatened to force feed me. Whenever I thought that they would insert a tube into my stomach, I became very scared.”
Prosecutor Huang then accused Ms. Yu of distributing Falun Gong materials. She refuted that no law criminalizes Falun Gong or labels it as a cult. The presiding judge stopped her again.
The prosecutor then asked Ms. Yu why she distributed Falun Gong materials. She responded that it was for people to understand the facts and know what’s the best way to protect themselves under the authoritarian rule of the communist regime. The judge interrupted her, saying that she couldn’t promote such things in court.
The judge then asked Ms. Yu to confirm whether the Falun Gong materials confiscated from her daughter’s home were hers. She said, “They are all my personal assets. It’s completely legal for me to have those materials. The Chinese publication bureau lifted the ban on Falun Gong literature in March 2011.”
“I’m only asking you to answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’” the judge said.
Lawyer’s Defense
The prosecutor claimed that the indictment of Ms. Yu was based on a legal opinion issued by the Supreme People’s Court and Supreme People’s Procuratorate in 2017, which provided interpretation of Article 300 of Criminal Law, which states that anyone using a cult organization to undermine law enforcement should be prosecuted to the fullest extent permitted by law.
Ms. Yu’s lawyer pointed out that the legal opinion itself didn’t have any legal-binding power since the two concerned agencies are not law-making bodies in China. As such, their legal opinion should never have been used as a reference to lead any law enforcement actions.
The lawyer also asked Ms. Yu why she practiced Falun Gong. She responded that she used to suffer many ailments and that no medical treatment could help her. But shortly after she took up Falun Gong, she recovered. She has since lived by Falun Gong’s principles Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance to be a good person, only to be persecuted by the state.
“Don’t promote Falun Gong again. You’ve said it many times. We all know it.” the judge said to her.
Ms. Yu continued to say that after the onset of the persecution, she was arrested by the local police and savagely beaten. She was also held in a brainwashing center and faced constant harassment. Due to the pressure, she stopped practicing Falun Gong for a period of time, only to see her health decline afterwards. She was also plagued by mental torment after she was forced to denounce Falun Gong, leading her to develop depression as a result. She decided to resume practicing Falun Gong later on and her symptoms disappeared again.
The lawyer said to the judge, “My client is just a regular citizen, who merely wants to practice her faith and keep fit. Which law was undermined by her practicing and spreading information about Falun Gong? And how? I demand her acquittal.”
In her final statement, Ms. Yu said that Falun Gong has been wronged all these years. If more people practice Falun Gong, society would be a much better place and those in the law enforcement sector wouldn’t have to face so many crimes every day.
She said, “If you sentence me just because I gave out a Falun Gong booklet for people to know the facts, it’d be absolutely wrong. I hope you all examine your conscience. You all know what Falun Gong is about and that we practitioners didn’t do anything wrong. I ask to be acquitted.”
After the hearing, the presiding judge said to Ms. Yu that he would have to sentence her, because she had been given probation before (which he said was too light as a punishment). He also hinted that he didn’t have the say himself, but the verdict would be determined by the Political and Legal Affairs Committee.
“I believe you can still choose to follow your conscience rather than a wrong order.” Ms. Yu said to the judge.
Past Persecution
Prior to her latest arrest, Ms. Yu has been targeted multiple times in the past two decades for practicing Falun Gong.
She was first arrested in 2000 for appealing for the right to practice Falun Gong. She was detained and beaten by the police.
While on a business trip in Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province on June 14, 2006, she was arrested in her hotel, after the Nanjing police found her carrying Falun Gong books and materials. She was given one year at the Judong Women’s Forced Labor Camp.
She was arrested again on February 22, 2016, at her own shop. The High-tech Industrial Development Zone Court sentenced her to three years with four years probation and a 5,000-yuan fine.
Perpetrators’ contact information:
Liu Lipeng (刘丽鹏), judge, Wujiang District Court: +86-512-63983975Huang Xiufeng (黄秀峰), prosecutor of Wujiang District Procuratorate: +86-512-63969043Huang Haipeng (黄海鹏), officer, Fengqiao Police Station: +86-512-65362718Jiang Dawei (蒋大伟), officer, Fengqiao Police Station
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