(Minghui.org) Four residents of Xingning City, Guangdong Province, and their lawyers testified against the police, the prosecutors, and the judges for violating legal procedures in handling their cases, when they appeared in the Meixian District Court on October 18, 2024.
Ms. Liao Juanna, Mr. Li Zhuozhong, and his wife Ms. Liao Yuanqun were arrested on April 19, 2024 and Mr. Xie Yujun was arrested six days later, because they practice Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999. Their cases were submitted to the Xingning City Procuratorate in late July 2024 and reassigned to the Meixian District Procuratorate on August 20. The Meixian District Court held a first hearing of the cases on October 18. A second joint hearing has been scheduled for November 12, 2024.
Judge Wei Donghua (+86-753-2589586) presided over the joint trial. Judges Zhang Qiaoling (+86-13502523608) and Zhang Wei, clerk Zhang Xuhui (+86-753-2589713), prosecutors Peng Qiuhong (+86-13823890648) and Huang Yuping (+86-753-3682836) were also present.
The four practitioners and their respective lawyers all requested that the judges, the prosecutors, and the clerk be recused but were rejected.
The practitioners testified against the arresting officers for raiding their homes without any search warrants. Mr. Li said the police pried open his door and handcuffed him as soon as they broke in. They produced a notice of subpoena but it did not have any official seals as required by the law. They also did not give him a list of the items they confiscated.
The lawyers testified against the prosecutors and their supervisor, chief prosecutor Li Peijun of the Meixian District Procuratorate, for prohibiting them from making carbon copies or taking pictures of the case files. One of the lawyers was not even allowed to take notes. Prosecutor Li ripped off the procuratorate’s notice to the lawyer saying he could review and make copies of his client’s case file.
The lawyers also called out the judges for not conducting evidence exclusion before the trial. By law, the judges, the prosecutors, and the defenders should have a pre-trial meeting to decide what evidence to include or exclude from the trial.
The lawyers requested to see the case files again in court as they could not remember all the details, having been prohibited from making copies of the documents. The judges shot down the requests and also refused to have the police interrogation read out aloud or the actual prosecution evidence presented in court.
The prosecutors claimed that they had the right to determine what evidence would be considered admissible or valid. By law, only an independent, third-party forensic agency can authenticate prosecution evidence.
The lawyers and their clients both protested against the judges’ and the prosecutor’s continued violation of legal procedures. Presiding judge Wei then said he’d give the lawyers some additional time to review the case files but they’d still be barred from copying the documents. He set the second hearing for 9 a.m. on November 12, 2024.
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