(Minghui.org) Mr. Fu Shengqiang, a 34-year-old Falun Gong practitioner from Wuhan, recently filed a lawsuit against a judge and two jurors of the Huangpi District Court. The judge had sentenced Mr. Fu to 21 months in prison and fined him 2,000 yuan for painting the words “Falun Dafa is good” on a telephone pole.
Mr. Fu painted the message on October 6, 2016. He was reported to the police, arrested on the same day, and taken to Bali Detention Center.
The Huangpi District Police Department initially put Mr. Fu under administrative detention. His family was made to believe that he would be released shortly. The police told his family to pay them in cash and material goods to the tune of tens of thousands of yuan.
The Huangpi District Procuratorate approved the arrest and submitted Mr. Fu's case to the court on November 17, 2016. He was tried more than six months later on June 23, 2017.
During the trial, Mr. Fu's lawyer argued that it was not against the law to practice Falun Gong and that painting words on a telephone pole is not a crime either. He also noted that the police had violated legal procedures by putting Mr. Fu under administrative detention, even though they were seeking to file criminal charges against him at the same time.
However, Mr. Fu was sentenced to 21 months in prison and fined 2,000 yuan on August 1, 2017. He is appealing his conviction.
On September 20, Mr. Fu filed a lawsuit against judge Wang Zhiwu and jurors Liu Huogou and Xu Qingfa for wrongful conviction. The court has 61 days, until November 21, 2017, to hear the case.
