(Minghui.org) Nine Dalian City residents were tried on charges of “using a cult to undermine law enforcement,” a standard pretext used by the Chinese communist regime in its attempt to frame and imprison Falun Gong practitioners.

The nine practitioners were arrested on June 28, 2016 after being monitored by police for months. They were indicted on November 21 and tried over the course of three days early this year, from January 17 to 19.

Only three family members of each practitioner were allowed to attend the trial. The defense lawyers entered not guilty pleas for all the practitioners, as no law in China criminalizes Falun Gong.

The prosecutor alleged that the nine practitioners broke the law by using computers and printers to make materials promoting Falun Gong. He, however, couldn’t specify which law was broken. The lawyers argued that their clients should never have been prosecuted for exercising their constitutional right to freedom of belief. Furthermore, he argued that the production and distribution of Falun Gong materials caused no harm to anyone, let alone undermine law enforcement.

The practitioners are Liu Renqiu, Jin Suyue, Wang Hongyu, Gu Shuchun, Yu Yongfu, Sheng Jie, Wang Jinrong, Wang Huixuan, and Liu Daixue.