(Minghui.org) The family defender of a 60-year-old woman sentenced to prison for her faith has filed a complaint against the two judges in charge of her appeals case and requested that they be recused.
Ms. Zhang Yufeng, of Chaoyang City, Liaoning Province, was arrested on March 7, 2023 for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999. The police found a banknote printed with Falun Gong messages from her home and the prosecutor used it as evidence to charge her with “using a cult organization to undermine law enforcement,” a standard pretext used by the authorities to frame Falun Gong practitioners.
Ms. Zhang was sentenced to three years with a 6,000-yuan fine on August 1, 2023. Two other local Falun Gong practitioners who were arrested along with her were also convicted. See the related reports for details of their arrests, trial, and sentencing.
Ms. Zhang filed an appeal with the Jinzhou City Intermediate Court, which assigned the case to judges Wang Xingzhou and Zhang Luan. Her son applied to be her non-lawyer defender [in China, both lawyers and non-lawyers are allowed to represent defendants]. While judges Wang and Zhang allowed him to review his mother’s case file and transcribe needed content, they barred him from taking pictures of the file or meeting with her.
Ms. Zhang’s son also made multiple requests to have an open hearing of the appeals case, but Wang and Zhang turned him down each time. They urged him to submit his defense statement in writing instead. He proceeded to file a complaint against them, accusing them of committing dereliction of duty and requesting that they be recused from the appeals case.
In his complaint, Ms. Zhang’s son also recounted how Falun Gong changed his mother.
“My mother developed breast hyperplasia after giving birth to me and could not nurse me. My father struggled to cover her medical expenses. His employer, the local diesel engine factory, kindly offered to pay him in advance each month so he could seek medical treatments for my mother. Nothing helped alleviate my mother’s symptoms though.
In 1996, my mother began to practice Falun Gong at the recommendation of a friend. Her breast hyperplasia miraculously disappeared in about one month. She used to hurt whenever she lied down or turned over her body in bed. But now she was totally fine. Her good health also enabled her and my father to build a house together when in the past we always had to rent places to live. Our fellow villagers, totaling more than 2,000, all knew about my mother’s miraculous recovery through practicing Falun Gong.
My mother was not a pleasant person as she often lashed out at others for trivial things. After she took up Falun Gong, she no longer cursed people and became a filial daughter to my grandmother.
As a sanitation worker, my mother also became more conscientious and considerate. The streets she was responsible for were always swept clean and free of clutter or debris. She even won an award for her stellar work performance. There was a slope in our neighborhood and my mother cleaned it every time it snowed even though it was not her job duty. She said she didn’t want anyone to slip and fall.”
Related reports:
Three Liaoning Residents Sentenced for Distributing Falun Gong Materials
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