(Minghui.org) Mr. Li Yilong from Jiujiang City, Jiangxi Province, who was tried for practicing Falun Gong, fainted shortly after his hearing on September 8, 2023. Mr. Li, who had been out on bail, returned home after he came to and is now waiting to hear the verdict.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Xiong Xiaoxiong of the Ruichang City Domestic Security Office and officers from the Yongquan Village Police Station in Jiujiang City arrested Mr. Li at his employer-provided dorm around 5 a.m. on June 16, 2022. The police searched his residence without showing any legal documents. Two other local Falun Gong practitioners, Ms. Tong Jinping and her sister Ms. Tong Yinping were arrested at their respective homes around the same time.
All three practitioners were taken to the Pencheng Police Station in Ruichang City, about 30 miles from Jiujiang. They were handcuffed to metal chairs and interrogated for over 20 hours.
Torture reenactment: Restrained in a metal chair
Two days later, Mr. Li and Ms. Tong Yinping were released on bail, after they were denied admission by the local detention centers due to their poor health. Ms. Tong Jinping was admitted to the Jiujiang City Detention Center. She was indicted in September 2022. The Yongxiu County Court held a virtual hearing of her case on January 13, 2023, and sentenced her to one year with a 5,000-yuan fine.
Officer Xiong arrested Mr. Li again on July 6, 2023. The mental pressure caused Mr. Li to have dangerously high blood pressure and the police had to release him.
Xiong called Mr. Li on September 7, and ordered him to report to the Yongxiu County Court the next day for a hearing. He threatened Mr. Li and said, “If you don’t come, we will arrest you.”
Mr. Li went to the court on September 8. The judges and prosecutor did not reveal their names. The court also appointed a lawyer to enter a guilty plea for him. His wife and a village official were allowed to observe the hearing.
Before the hearing started, the presiding judge demanded that Mr. Li sign statements to renounce Falun Gong. He said that he would only proceed with the hearing if Mr. Li signed the statements. He added that he would give Mr. Li a lighter sentence if he signed the documents, or they else would take him into custody that day. Mr. Li refused to comply or plead guilty. Just as he started to defend his innocence, the judge interrupted him and adjourned the hearing.
Mr. Li mistook the end of that day’s hearing for a recess so he waited. After two hours, the session still did not resume. He then realized the hearing concluded for the day. He got ready to leave, but a judge spotted him and ordered him to return to the courtroom to wait without telling him what else was there for him to do that day. Mr. Li followed the judge’s order, only to lose consciousness and fall hard on the ground in the courtroom shortly afterward due to the mental stress. He didn’t regain consciousness for a long time. The court did not call for any medical assistance or call an ambulance.
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