(Minghui.org) Mr. Ye Zhimin was arrested on November 28, 2022, for practicing Falun Gong. He appeared in Nanshan District Court in Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province on March 17, 2023. His lawyer entered a not-guilty plea for him and refuted the allegations against him. The presiding judge, Wu Junwei, constantly interrupted the lawyer.

The prosecutor charged Mr. Ye with violating Article 300 of the Criminal Law, which stipulates that anyone using a cult organization to undermine law enforcement should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

The defense lawyer pointed out that the People’s Congress (China’s legislative body) has never enacted a law deeming Falun Gong a “cult” and that the cult list compiled by the Ministry of Public Security did not include Falun Gong.

The prosecutor cited as a legal basis a statutory interpretation of Article 300 issued in November 1999 by the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, which required that anyone practicing or promoting Falun Gong be prosecuted to the fullest extent possible.

The lawyer argued that the 1999 Statutory Interpretation has been replaced by a new version that took effect on February 1, 2017. The new interpretation made no mention of Falun Gong and emphasized that any indictment against anyone engaging in a cult must be based on solid legal grounds. Since no law ever criminalizes Falun Gong or labels it as a cult in China, the indictment against Mr. Ye lacked a legal basis.

The lawyer emphasized that according to legal principles, any act deemed criminal must have been covered in criminal laws. In other words, if a criminal law stipulates that a certain act (such as murder) is criminal, then anyone committing that act would be deemed to have broken the law. If an act has never been mentioned in criminal laws, then there is no legal basis to prosecute anyone for doing that act. Again, since no law stipulates that practicing Falun Gong or possessing/disseminating Falun Gong materials is a criminal act, Article 300 of the criminal law could not be used as legal standing for the case against Mr. Ye.

The prosecutor said the Constitution and other laws have designated Falun Gong as a cult, but she failed to specify which law said so. The lawyer refuted that the Constitution never even mentioned Falun Gong.

Falun Gong is only a self-improvement practice, added the lawyer, and the “organization” part in the allegation against Mr. Ye was baseless as Falun Gong did not have any organizational form or membership roster. In summary, the prosecutor failed to present any evidence of how Mr. Ye engaged in a cult organization, or what specific actions he did to undermine law enforcement.

Additionally, any criminal wrongs must cause harm to society as a whole (as opposed to civil wrongs that only harm private parties). Throughout the indictment, however, the prosecutor only repeatedly accused Mr. Ye of undermining law enforcement, but without specifying which law enforcement was obstructed by him or what harm he caused to society as a whole.

In response to the prosecutor accusing Mr. Ye of making and spreading Falun Gong promotional materials, the lawyer said that although the police indeed found Falun Gong books and materials at Mr. Ye’s home, they didn’t have any evidence of how he disseminated the materials.

According to the code of criminal procedure, the court should inform the defendant of the hearing three days ahead of time. But Mr. Ye didn’t receive such notice as required by law. Thus, the court has violated a legal procedure itself.

The lawyer added that the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” states in its preamble that everyone “shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief.” As China played an important part in writing the declaration and is also a signatory to it, it should all the more respect Chinese citizens’ freedom of speech and spiritual belief.

The lawyer also said, after the Chinese Communist Party took power in China, they launched one political campaign after another to target select groups of Chinese citizens who dared to criticize the regime. Countless people were put in jail or persecuted to death.

The judge kept interrupting the lawyer, but he continued to say that the current leader of the Chinese Communist Party vowed to enable Chinese people to live the “Chinese Dream.” But in order to realize the dream, the Chinese people should be able to enjoy more dignity and freedom. Any effort that attempts to wipe out faith through tyranny will not succeed. He called on the judge to learn from history, safeguard the law and uphold justice.

After the lawyer’s defense statement, the prosecutor accused him of talking nonsense, making things up, and beating around the bush. He however neglected to say that he was unable to address the lawyer’s question of how Mr. Ye allegedly used a cult organization to undermine law enforcement.

While testifying in his own defense, Mr. Ye challenged the prosecutor and the judge to exhibit Falun Gong books in court and read some of their content. He said everyone should read the book themselves and determine whether the content disrupts society or it actually brings benefits to society.