(Minghui.org) A judge in Sichuan Province recently barred an attorney representing Ms. Liang Wende, a Falun Gong practitioner, from using his computer during Ms. Liang’s trial, rendering him unable to defend his client.
The trial was held in a make-shift courtroom at Naxi Detention Center on July 11, 2016. When the the attorney arrived, the bailiff told him that he wasn't allowed to bring his bag into the courtroom.
The lawyer communicated to the judge, Mei Yi, through text messages that it was illegal for her to prohibit him from using the computer. The judge came over and repeated her decision, ignoring the attorney’s explanation that the computer had relevant case documents and other files the attorney had prepared for the trial.
The attorney was eventually locked outside the courtroom. The judge proceeded with the “closed door” trial, with no one being allowed to attend. No verdict was announced.
Outside the courtroom, police set up a barrier about 500 meters (about 0.3 mile) from the detention center. Police cars parked in front of the entrance, and dozens of officers patrolled the road. The heads of both the Jiangyang District and Naxi District 610 Offices, the masterminds behind the persecution, were present.
Dozens of people, including Ms. Liang's family members, were kept outside the makeshift courtroom and not allowed to attend the trial. Many of them were in their 70s or 80s. The police shoved them away and told them to go home.
Ms. Liang Wende, 61, was arrested on December 25, 2015, and has been held in Naxi Detention Center ever since.
Her lawyer visited her on June 22, but the detention center didn't allow him to talk to Ms. Liang on the connecting phone. A glass partition separated them, and he unable to hear what Ms. Liang said during the visit.
Repeatedly Persecuted
Ms. Liang began practicing Falun Gong in 1997. Ever since the former dictator of the Chinese Communist Party, Jiang Zemin, launched the persecution of Falun Gong in1999, Ms. Liang has been repeatedly persecuted for refusing to give up her belief in the practice, even in the face of extreme pressure from the authorities.
She has been fired from her job and sentenced to four and a half years in prison, to forced labor camps twice, and to brainwashing centers five times. She has been starved, savagely beaten, and subjected relentless brainwashing sessions.
The police have ransacked her home five times, and she has suffered financial losses of over 100,000 yuan.
She is now facing another possible prison sentence for refusing to recant her belief.
