(Clearwisdom.net) The Xindu District Court in Chengdu City held a hearing for two practitioners, Mr. Peng Changhua and his wife, on the morning of May 7, 2010. The hearing was carefully arranged by various officials, including Zhou Jiang, head of the Xindu 610 Office. A large number of police officers (both uniformed and in plainclothes) gathered inside and outside the court.

There were many pedestrians and vehicles on the narrow street in front of the courthouse before the hearing. Some were Falun Gong practitioners, but more were from the 610 Office and Domestic Security Division. Under orders from Zhou Jiang, Liu Xingyong (Xindu 610 Office deputy head) led all his staff, together with plainclothes police organized by Chen Dequan in the Domestic Security Division, to walk around in the crowd to monitor Falun Gong practitioners. Chen Dequan took pictures of practitioners he knew and recorded their voices.

The 610 Office took this hearing very seriously. All police officers seemed nervous when Mr. Peng Changhua and his wife were brought into the court. The hearing was held in a small room on the right side of the court building.

Although presented as a public hearing, it was only open to the family members of the couple. They were all inspected and their ID cards were checked. Six or seven police officers were placed at various areas in the small room. When the hearing started, the only door to this room was shut and guarded by several police officers. Some plainclothes police checked the blacklists on their laptops while pointing to people in the room. They also kept contacting head Chen Dequan, who was outside the room, by cell phone.

Presiding Judge Does Not Allow Defense Attorney to Speak

As the hearing started, the prosecutor referred to materials confiscated from Peng Changhua's home as criminal evidence, including hundreds of DVDs, a DVD writer, and some Falun Dafa books. When the defense attorney attempted to defend the couple, he was often interrupted by the presiding judge surnamed Yu. As a result, the lawyer was not given an opportunity to defend the couple. He could hardly finish one complete sentence before being interrupted. Both uniformed and plainclothes police constantly walked around in the room monitoring the family members.

Lawyer Protests Not Being Allowed to Defend Innocent Practitioners

Because of his being unfairly treated, the lawyer was outraged and began to protest. At this point, one judge allowed him to finish speaking. The lawyer said that Falun Gong practitioners were following the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, which benefits society in many ways and brings no harm. The attorney went on to say that the couple, just like other Falun Gong practitioners, did not have thoughts or actions that harm the society or individuals, let alone committing crimes. On the the other hand, it is a crime to persecute Falun Gong and Falun Gong practitioners.

Nonetheless, the court, together with people from Procuratorate and the 610 Office, sentenced Mr. Peng Changhua to three years in prison. His wife, who was ill and unable to take care of herself, was sentenced to two years and allowed to serve her term under house arrest.