(Minghui.org) A 72-year-old Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, resident stood trial at the Dadong District Court on February 27, 2025, for her faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual and meditation discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Meng Qingjie, a retired teacher, was seized from home at around 7 a.m. on July 12, 2024, by a group of plainclothes officers from the Shenhe District Police Department and its subordinate, the Dongling Police Station. One of the officers was named Han Song. They raided her home without showing their IDs or a search warrant. They took her to the Shenyang City First Detention Center that night, where she remains.
Ms. Meng was later indicted by prosecutor Yang Yu’e of the Dadong District Procuratorate, who moved her case to the Dadong District Court on January 2, 2025.
Before Ms. Meng’s hearing started on February 27, 2025, the presiding judge, Zhang Jutao, barred her over ten family members from attending the session. Given strong protest from her lawyer, the judge eventually allowed her family into the court room, after withholding their cell phones and IDs.
During the hearing, judge Zhang repeatedly interrupted Ms. Meng and her lawyer, Mr. Xie Yanyi, especially when they mentioned words like “human rights,” “freedom of belief,” or “persecution.” Ms. Meng’s family defender was also cut off right after he started to read his defense statement, just because he mentioned the words “Falun Gong.”
The judge warned the lawyer to be “politically correct” and “not to defend Falun Gong.” He adjourned the hearing without allowing the lawyer to make his final statement.
Ms. Meng taught elementary schools for 30 years before she retired in 2008, having spent the last decade of her career at the Shenyang Agricultural University Affiliated Primary School. She was repeatedly targeted over the years for her faith. Prior to her latest arrest, she served a three-year labor camp term (2005-2008) and a six-year prison term (2012-2018). Her pension was suspended after she was released from prison in 2018.
Related Reports:
Retired Teacher Faces Indictment Again After Nine Years Behind Bars for Practicing Falun Gong
Because of Her Faith, 70-Year-Old Retired Teacher's Pension Suspended for Five Years and Counting
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