(Minghui.org) A 65-year-old man in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province is set to stand trial on January 7, 2025 for his faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Mr. Jin Xiaofeng
As no law in China criminalizes Falun Gong, Mr. Jin Xiaofeng’s non-lawyer defender filed complaints against his perpetrators for targeting him without legal basis. She accused officers Zhao Yang, Hu Yunkun, and Liu Xiaoming of the Quanyuan Police Station for raiding Mr. Jin’s home without a search warrant and fabricating evidence against him. She also condemned prosecutor Hu Dan of the Dadong District Procuratorate for indicting him despite the lack of evidence, and judge Zhang Jutao of the Dadong District Court for attempting to bar her from representing him.
The defender also submitted a request to have Mr. Jin released on bail due to health reasons. He developed asthma in custody and coughed non-stop at night. He has lost a lot of weight since his arrest on July 13, 2024. Neither the procuratorate nor the court has responded to the request at the time of writing.
As Mr. Jin is awaiting trial at the Dadong District Detention Center, his defender is looking to see whether the authorities would approve her requests to have prosecutor Hu and judge Zhang recused from the case given above-mentioned complaints. Whatever the response, she and Mr. Jin’s lawyer are ready to defend his innocence in practicing Falun Gong.
Details of Arrest and Indictment
Mr. Jin was talking to another Falun Gong practitioner, Ms. Zhao Guiping, on the street on July 13, 2024, when five plainclothes officers suddenly swarmed the duo and said they had been following him for three months. Without producing any IDs or search warrant, they searched Mr. Jin’s car and confiscated over 500 Falun Gong flyers from the vehicle. The police also raided Mr. Jin’s home later that day and seized a computer and a printer.
While on the way to raid Mr. Jin’s home, an officer said to him, “People like you would likely die in custody and your offspring would all be implicated.”
Mr. Jin was taken to the Quanyuan Police Station that day. During the interrogation, the police promised to release him in three days if he answered all their questions. He refused to comply and demanded legal representation.
Mr. Jin was later taken to the Shenhe District Detention Center and then transferred to the Dadong District Detention Center. The Dadong District Procuratorate approved his arrest on August 19. Between October and November, prosecutor Hu returned his case to the police for additional evidence. Meanwhile, the police called his family several times to harass them.
Prosecutor Hu indicted Mr. Jin on December 10, 2024 and judge Zhang set his court date for January 7, 2025.
Related Report:
Liaoning Man Facing Trial for His Faith that Turned Him into a Much Better Person
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