(Minghui.org) On the morning of July 12, 2013 the Weidu District Court in Xuchang City, Henan Province, tried Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Qu Chunrong. Her family hired a lawyer from Beijing to defend her. He suggested the court release Ms. Qu immediately and won a round of applause.
At 9:30 a.m. on July 12, before the District Court, a gray-haired, 5 foot 4 inch, sixty-year-old Falun Gong practitioner, Ms. Qu Chunrong, was taken in shackles from a police vehicle. She went to the court. Her term at the detention center had been extended for one year. Although she had lost a lot of weight, she smiled with determination.
Weidu District Court Criminal Presiding Judge Lan Guoyan (female, around fifty years old) presided at the hearing. The prosecutor was Weidu District's Deputy Chief of Public Prosecution, Zheng Jianye (male, in his forties). Before the hearing the court staff asked every observer whether he or she practiced Falun Gong.
Uniformed and plainclothes police took pictures of Falun Gong practitioners secretly inside and outside the court. Practitioners stood outside the court to support Ms. Qu and let people know the truth about Falun Gong.
Inside, Ms. Qu Chunrong pleaded not guilty. She said: “Falun Gong is my personal belief. Having a faith is legitimate, and Falun Gong practitioners are innocent. What is wrong with being a good person and following Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance? The persecution of Falun Gong practitioners is wrong, and persecuting me is wrong. The charges against me are not legitimate. I do not recognize the charges against me, and I am not guilty.”
Qu Chunrong is a retired worker from the Xuchang Shoe Factory. She is kind and honest. She is very filial to her nearly 90 year-old mother, and likes to help others. She does not care about personal gain, and is recognized by her neighbors as a good person.
Before practicing Falun Gong, Qu Chunrong had many illnesses, including eye problems, kidney disease, ureteral calculi, lumbar spine fracture, breast hyperplasia, gynecological disease and a constant low fever. She could not read or watch TV because of eye problems. She could not bend to wash her hair due to the lumbar spine fracture.
Everyone in the factory knew about her poor health. Her hair became white from suffering when she was only forty years old. Though she was in so much pain, she did not have enough money to treat her illness. In 1996 she started to practice Falun Gong, and her illnesses disappeared shortly after she started to practice. Falun Gong gave her a new life. Following the principle of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance to be a good person, she told everyone from the bottom of her heart that Falun Dafa is good.
Because she appealed for justice for Falun Gong, Qu Chunrong was arrested and detained by the police several times. In 2000 she was sent to a labor camp for two years.
At 7 a,m. on July 2, 2012, agents from Xuchang City 610 Office, officers from the Domestic Security Division of the Xuchang City Police Department, including chief Xu Yanli, and officers from Xiguan Police Station broke into her home on Tianbao Road. They ransacked her home and took away Dafa books and some personal items. They forcibly took Qu Chunrong from her home.
Later they raided her mother's home on Xinxing Road. The charge was framed. Qu Chunrong was detained beyond the limit of one year at the Xuchang City Gaoqiaoying Detention Center.
The Weidu District Prosecutor's Office charged her with “utilizing evil cults to undermine the implementation of the law." The lawyer from Beijing defended her. The lawyer said: “My client Qu Chunrong is innocent. Falun Gong is not a cult. Searching through the Chinese Constitution and regulations, none of them says Falun Gong is a cult." The lawyer's righteous and powerful voice moved the entire court:
The 36th section of the Chinese Constitution stipulates that “Citizens of the People's Republic of China have the freedom of religious belief.” Prosecutors charged Qu Chunrong with violating Article 300 of Criminal Law "using a cult organization to undermine law enforcement," which was not factual and had no legal basis.
“On May 10, 2000 the Ministry of Public Security identified fourteen cults, and Falun Gong was not among them. On October 30, 1999 the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress promulgated the 'Decision on Banning Heretical Cult Organizations, Preventing and Punishing Cult Activities' but did not mention Falun Gong.”
“Interpretation of certain problems in implementing the law in dealing with cases of organizing or utilizing evil cult organizations to commit crimes (II)” passed by Judicial Committee of the Supreme People's Court on May 10, 2010 and Judicial Committee of the Supreme People's Procuratorate on April 29, 2010 refers to making material to promote cults, but Falun Gong is not a cult.
“Jiang Zemin's conversation with a journalist, and commentators' articles in the newspaper [referring to Falun Gong as a cult] are not the law. My client did not undermine the implementation of the law. She did not commit any crime, so it's not a crime. Falun Gong's belief follows Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. It teaches people to be good. It's a belief and the ideology does not constitute a crime.
“Beyond the law, there is also conscience. When the law and conscience conflict, conscience is the highest standard of conduct, rather than law. Using article 300 of Criminal law to frame and persecute Falun Gong practitioners is a serious violation of human conscience and morality. It contradicts social justice. Knowing that Falun Gong practitioners are good, innocent people, arresting them is a crime.”
The lawyer defended Ms. Qu with China's current laws. Using the provisions of applicable law defining this case to be "criminal" is inconsistent with the facts. He also defended Ms. Qu as not guilty from the perspective of moral conscience, and urged the court to release her immediately. His defense won a round of applause in the court.
The trial lasted nearly an hour. The court did not announce the result. Ms. Qu Chunrong is still being held at Xuchang City Detention Center.
Zheng Jianye, deputy chief, Indictment Section of Xuchang Weidu District Procuratorate 86-13837411102 (Cell), 86-374-4360168 (Office)
Lan Guoyan, president, Criminal Tribunal of Xuchang Weidu District Court 86 -374-3399082
Jiang Keqin, secretary of City Political and Legal Affairs Committee 86-374-2965538 (Office) 86-15993696666 (Cell)
City 610 Office:
Jia Quansheng 86-1383741888 (Cell), Niu Jiangshe, Zhang Wei 86-13700892298 (Cell), Yang Tianxiang, Han Shaopei
