(Minghui.org) Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Yang Rong was tried at the Weibin District Court in Baoji City on March 7, 2017. Her crime? Sharing a picture related to Falun Gong on a chat website.
Ms. Yang Rong was arrested by officers from the Shibahe Police Station when she bought a ticket at the Zhengzhou Train Station on October 12, 2016. She was taken to the Baoji City No. 2 Detention Center.
Several practitioners were able to attend the trial, despite opposition from court officials.
Prosecutor Zhou Liping charged Ms. Yang with using “a cult organization to undermine law enforcement,” a standard pretext used by the Chinese communist regime to persecute Falun Gong practitioners.
Ms. Yang defended herself in court. She said that she often distributes information about Falun Gong to help people learn the truth about the persecution. She does not want people to be deceived by the Communist Party's defamation of Falun Gong. She also urged the judges not to participate in the persecution.
“It should not be I who is on trial, but Jiang Zemin,” Ms. Yang said. [Jiang Zemin is the former Chinese leader who launched the brutal persecution of Falun Gong in 1999.]
The judge asked Ms. Yang if she believed she was innocent, to which she replied that she is innocent of any crime and should be released.
Ms. Yang's attorney argued that charging his client under Article 300 of the Chinese Criminal Law is in violation of citizens' right to freedom of belief, which is guaranteed by Article 36 of the Chinese Constitution. He instead suggested that the prosecutor should be taken to court for the illegality of the charges against his client.
The lawyer also argued that there is insufficient evidence to uphold the case. He stressed that Ms. Yang Rong had not broken any law, and that she should be released unconditionally.
The trial ended without a verdict.
