(Minghui.org) A 40-year-old woman in Changqiu City was arrested for spreading information about Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline being persecuted by the Chinese communist regime. The judge overseeing her case refused to accept her lawyer's application to represent her.

Ms. Huang Xiulan, also known as Huang Xiumei, was reported to police while passing out Falun Gong informational materials on December 15, 2017. Hours later, she was arrested at home and had her Falun Gong books and materials confiscated. Agents from Boai Police Station and Suiyang District Domestic Security Office were responsible for the arrest.

Judge Yang Jianbo of Suiyang District Court was assigned to the case. He refused to take Ms. Huang's lawyer's application to represent her, upon noticing that the lawyer planned to enter a not guilty plea for Ms. Huang.

The lawyer requested to know what legal basis Yang had to decline his application. Yang produced a piece of paperwork that he claimed was a classified document issued in 2009, stating that lawyers were not allowed to defend Falun Gong practitioners' innocence. The lawyer noted that the document was not issued by any law-making bodies and thus had no legal effect.

Yang still refused to take the lawyer's application and challenged the latter to sue him. The lawyer is still fighting for his right to represent Ms. Huang at the time of writing.

Wang Zhongxiu (head of Suiyang District Domestic Security Office): +86-13837049678

Judge Yang: +86-17603706216