(Minghui.org) A resident of Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province, stood trial on May 20, 2024 for her faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Ms. Xu Wenying testified in her own defense. Her two lawyers also defended her constitutional right to freedom of belief. Judge Chen Zaoqiang of the Harbin Railway Transportation Court kept interrupting the lawyers. He also barred Ms. Xu’s daughter from attending the nearly three-hour-long hearing on the grounds that it was not an open hearing.
Ms. Xu’s trial followed her arrest on December 13, 2023. The arresting officers from the Harbin Railway Transportation Police Department raided her rental apartment and confiscated a large amount of her personal belongings. They said they had been monitoring her for a long time before making the arrest. They took her to the Harbin City Second Detention Center, where she remains after her court hearing.
This is not the first time that Ms. Xu has been targeted for her faith. She decided to go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong in December 2000 but was intercepted on her way there. She was detained for more than three months. Not long after she was released, the police attempted to arrest her again. She had to go into hiding with her daughter, who was not even three at the time. The police seized her in 2004 and sentenced her to seven years in prison.
While Ms. Xu was facing constant persecution for her faith, her husband, Mr. Lyu Mengxin, a lecturer at Northeast Forestry University, was also repeatedly targeted for practicing Falun Gong. He went to Beijing on October 10, 1999 to appeal for Falun Gong and was arrested. The Dongli District Court in Harbin City sentenced him to three years in February 2001 and he was admitted to the Harbin Prison on March 31, 2001. He went on a hunger strike in protest and was force fed.
Mr. Lyu was arrested again on April 3, 2005 and sentenced to two years by the Dongli District Court. He was denied prison admission after he was found to have lung disease. The authorities managed to have the Wanjia Labor Camp take him. He was brutally tortured and died at the labor camp on February 27, 2006. He was around 43. Ms. Xu was still serving her 7-year prison term at the time. Their daughter was only around 8 then and often wondered why her parents never came back. She lived with a foster family until her mother was released.
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