(Minghui.org) The Xi’an City Intermediate Court in Shaanxi Province heard a local resident’s appeals case on September 11, 2023. Mr. Miao Zhongjun, 66, was not notified of the hearing three days in advance as required by law. He was also barred from testifying in his own defense.
Mr. Miao was arrested on May 10, 2022 for practicing Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) since July 1999. The Lianhu District Court sentenced him to four years with a 10,000-yuan fine on September 11, 2023.
During his appeal hearing, Mr. Miao’s lawyer requested his guilty verdict be overturned. The lawyer argued that the prosecutor in his trial case failed to prove all four elements of his alleged “crime.”
According to China’s criminal law, in order to convict a suspect of any crime, the prosecution bears the burden of proof and must show that, 1) the suspect is mentally competent and understands the consequences of their actions; 2) the suspect must have had a criminal mind (or criminal intent) to cause harm to others; 3) the suspect must have committed a criminal act; 4) the criminal act must have violated the legal rights of others (for instance, the criminal act of murder violates the victim’s legal right to live).
While the prosecutor proved Mr. Miao was competent to stand trial, he failed to prove the other three elements. The prosecution evidence included testimonies from people that Mr. Miao gave Falun Gong informational materials to, as well as Falun Gong books and informational materials confiscated from his home. His appeal lawyer argued that Mr. Miao never set out to harm others when he talked to people about Falun Gong because he only wanted them to know about the illegality of the persecution. His act was by no means criminal because no law in China criminalizes Falun Gong and the Chinese publication bureau lifted the ban on Falun Gong books in 2011. In addition, Mr. Miao’s act violated no one’s legal rights and did not cause harm to any individual or to society at large.
The trial judge cited as evidence to convict Mr. Miao an authentication report issued by a criminal investigation team within the Xi’an City Police Department. The report stated that the Falun Gong materials confiscated from Mr. Miao were “cult propaganda.” His appeal lawyer argued that only an independent, third-party forensic agency, not a police agency, is authorized to authenticate prosecution evidence. Hence, the trial court’s conviction of Mr. Miao was based on inadmissible evidence.
Mr. Miao’s younger brother served as his non-lawyer family defender. He planned to say that the persecution of his brother also claimed the lives of their parents, who were so distraught by their older son’s arrest that they passed away two months apart earlier this year. Mr. Miao’s brother, however, was too grief-stricken to mention his parents, but he defended his brother’s innocence.
Four other family members attended the hearing as spectators. Prior to the appeals hearing, two people from the Xi’an City Procuratorate interrogated Mr. Miao at the Xincheng District Detention Center and asked where he got the Falun Gong materials. It was unclear whether he answered their questions.
Related Reports:
Shaanxi Man Stands Trial for His Faith in Falun Gong
Shaanxi Man Faces Prosecution for His Faith, Elderly Parents in Distress
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