(Minghui.org) A 69-year-old retired teacher in Ankang City, Shaanxi Province, stood trial at Hanbin District Court on June 2, 2023, for writing letters to her local social security bureau and government officials, requesting the reinstatement of her pension that was suspended because of her faith in Falun Gong. The prosecutors recommended a five-year prison sentence for her.
Ms. Luo Changyun has been repeatedly targeted since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched a nationwide campaign against Falun Gong, a mind-body practice based on the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, in July 1999. Simply for upholding her faith, she was arrested more than 20 times in the past 24 years.
She was thrice given forced labor terms totaling six and a half years between 2000 and 2007 and sentenced to five years in prison in 2008. Her husband divorced her under pressure, and their two daughters were also implicated.
The local social security bureau suspended Ms. Luo’s pension from April 1, 2010, to January 1, 2013, when she was still serving her five-year prison term. They later reinstated her pension, but started suspending it again in 2016. She has not received any pension benefits since then.
Ms. Luo mailed a letter to the social security bureau on January 8, 2022, requesting that her pension be reinstated and urging them to stop persecuting her financially for her faith in Falun Gong.
She also mailed another letter to the secretary of the Ankang City Discipline Committee, secretary of the Ankang City Police Department Political and Legal Affairs Committee, postmaster of Gaoxin Post Office, and deputy secretary of the Hanbin District Political and Legal Affairs Committee. She shared in the letter how Falun Gong freed her from stubborn illnesses and how people in more than 100 countries practice Falun Gong. She urged the officials to stop following the CCP in persecuting innocent Falun Gong practitioners like her. She also asked that they uphold justice for her and help reinstate her pension.
The social security bureau and those government officials turned in her letters to the Hanbin District Police Department Domestic Security Office. The police arrested her on May 30, 2022.
Hanbin District Court held a hearing of Ms. Luo’s case on June 2, 2023. The session ran from 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Three prosecutors (two men and one woman) from the local procuratorate attended the hearing, but none of them revealed their names. They charged Ms. Luo with “using a cult organization to undermine law enforcement,” a standard pretext used to frame and imprison Falun Gong practitioners.
Ms. Luo’s two lawyers argued that China’s lawmaking body, the People’s Congress, has never enacted any laws to criminalize Falun Gong or label it as a cult. Moreover, Ms. Luo’s two letters, one to the social security bureau, and the other to the aforementioned government officials, caused no harm to any individual or society at large, much less undermine law enforcement.
The prosecutors said that Ms. Luo’s two letters were sufficient evidence that she broke the law. More specifically, they made the following three allegations, which were all refuted by the defense lawyers:
First, they said that the letters had been determined by the police to be anti-CCP propaganda. Her lawyers argued that only independent, third-party forensic agencies could verify and authenticate evidence. As such, the police-verified “evidence” was not admissible in the case against Ms. Luo.
Second, the prosecutors accused Ms. Luo of defaming central government leaders in her two letters. Her lawyers argued that her letters were simply presenting a fact that she was living proof of the CCP’s barbaric policy against Falun Gong practitioners, namely, “ruining their reputation, cutting them off financially, and destroying them physically.” Ms. Luo’s pension was suspended because of her prison sentence and her steadfast faith in Falun Gong. No retirees should see their pension forfeited because of their faith, they argued. The lawyers also emphasized that Ms. Luo’s sharing her persecution facts in no way defamed any government leaders.
Lastly, the prosecutors claimed that Ms. Luo’s letters spread anti-society, anti-government, anti-science, and anti-humanity propaganda, as well as rumors about the end of the world. Her lawyers refuted that there was no legal ground to label their client’s letters as anti-society, anti-government, anti-science, and anti-humanity. Moreover, her letters did not mention the end of the world.
The lawyers also pointed out that even if Ms. Luo had slandered government leaders and spread the alleged propaganda, the acts would not have been related to the crime charged in her indictment, namely, “using a cult organization to undermine law enforcement.” Her lawyers thus argued for her acquittal.
Five family members and friends of Ms. Luo were in attendance. Two of them used to have a deep misunderstanding of her as a Falun Gong practitioner, but they said her lawyers’ defense of her made them realize that she had done nothing wrong in practicing her faith.
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