(Minghui.org) A Dalian City resident was sentenced to prison for refusing to renounce Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline being persecuted by the Chinese communist regime. Ms. Wen Ying’s new lawyer requested a public hearing for her appeal, but the local higher court has yet to respond.

Ms. Wen was seized while taking out trash on June 28, 2016. Another one hundred Falun Gong practitioners across Liaoning Province were also arrested that day during a large-scale police raid.

Prosecutors Yu Jie and Wu Haiming filed an indictment against Ms. Wen, and she was tried on February 22, 2017. Her lawyer entered a not guilty plea for her, as no law in China criminalizes Falun Gong. Judge Wang Qian sentenced Ms. Wen to 7 years in prison and fined her 70,000 yuan on March 31.

Ms. Wen hired a new lawyer to help her file an appeal with the Dalian City Intermediate Court. The appeal was registered with the higher court on May 11.

Judge Yin Chuanmao in charge of the appeals case requested that Ms. Wen's new lawyer submit his written defense statements. The lawyer complied but requested a public hearing. He also tried numerous times to meet with Yin, but the latter used various excuses to avoid seeing him. At the time of writing, Yin still hasn’t confirmed whether there will be a public hearing.

The lawyer also noted that all electronic forms of police interrogation and court proceedings (including DVDs and videotapes) were missing when he reviewed Ms. Wen's case file.

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