(Minghui.org) A Fuxin City, Liaoning Province resident was sentenced to 1.5 years with a 5,000-yuan fine on September 28, 2020. Mr. Guo Chunhuai's family has appealed the verdict. This is the second time that Mr. Guo has been sentenced for his faith in Falun Gong, having been given four years in 2013.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is an ancient spiritual and meditation discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Mr. Guo was arrested on November 16, 2019 for distributing informational materials about Falun Gong. He was tried via video conference at the Xindi Detention Center by the Xihe District Court on September 18.
According to Mr. Guo’s daughter, who represented him and entered a not guilty plea for him, Mr. Guo sat alone in a room during the hearing. His hands and feet were shackled.
The prosecutor, Zhang Qingdong, accused Mr. Guo of “undermining law enforcement with a cult organization” (the standard pretext used to indict Falun Gong practitioners) by putting up Falun Gong posters in residential buildings.
His daughter argued that the case description and Falun Gong materials confiscated from Mr. Guo during his arrest could only verify that he practices Falun Gong and has distributed information about it. But it failed to establish how he undermined law enforcement or engaged in cult activities by exercising his constitutional right to freedom of belief.
As Mr. Guo’s daughter questioned the prosecutor for the lack of legal basis for the charges, the presiding judge, Liu Haibo, stopped her and accused her of attacking the prosecutor. Judge Liu said to her, “You should stop talking about things not related to this case and you don’t have the right to question the prosecutor.”
When Mr. Guo’s daughter talked about how the authorities have violated the law in the persecution and with the involvement of the 610 Office, an extralegal agency created to persecute Falun Gong, in her father’s case, the judge accused her of personal attacks again and ordered the bailiffs to drag her out of the courtroom.
Mr. Guo denied all charges against him and said that the police mistreated and beat him during his arrest.