|Video Courtesy of NTDTV |
SINGAPORE—The prosecution of 7 Falun Gong adherents in Singapore that they say is extra-legal took a turn toward the absurd in a confused hearing on May 31 in which the prosecutor failed to show up and no indictment was presented.The pre-trial hearing originally scheduled for 3:30pm had not begun by 4:10pm. Ms. Ng Chye Huay, one of the Falun Gong practitioners being accused, asked why there was a delay. She was told by the court police that the prosecutor had not arrived yet and they had to wait. Ms. Ng said, “How long do we have to wait? We will leave if the prosecutor does not come.”
Shortly after, the judged called the seven defendants into the conference room. They found that inside the conference room, besides the judge, there was a Chinese male appearing on a teleconference screen. The representative of the prosecutor’s office did not come in person, but attended through teleconferencing.
When the parties asked for the prosecutor’s name, the representative said that his last name is Foo, but he is not the prosecutor. He was only responsible for attending the pre-trial hearing. It had not been determined yet who the prosecutor would be.
The practitioners could not understand why almost a month had passed since the charges had been laid, yet no prosecutor had been assigned.
Prosecution without Indictment
When the judge asked the parties if they plead guilty, all seven practitioners pleaded not guilty. Mr. Chua Eng Chwee, one of the parties, said, “We followed the constitution and did not commit any crime, how can we plead guilty? What we did was the best thing for the Singapore government and the people.”
When the judge asked each person if they wanted a lawyer, Mr. Chua said that he would defend himself. Ms. Ng had already hired a lawyer. The other five pointed out that they could not get a lawyer as they had not been indicted. Ms. Choo, one of the five, said, “This is the third time we have appeared in court, why is there no indictment? This violates procedure. Why is our case different from others?”
The judge passed the question to Mr. Foo, who said that he did not know, and that he needed to ask the police.
The judge said, “Did we not read you the charges in court on May 26? Under normal circumstances, other cases would not be given an indictment either. We are particularly concerned about your case, the charges should be given by the prosecutor, if you want it, we will copy it for you immediately.”
Ms. Ng said that in the past when they had received an indictment, the police had delivered it to their homes. Ms Ng continued by saying that in this case the person is arrested first, and sent to court directly on the 26th to listen to the judge reading the charges, with no indictment having been given to the person. Even if it was just negligence, it would be impossible that the indictments for all seven accused had been missing, let alone that the charges for the seven accused were read at three different times [by the arresting officer , in court on May 26 and then again in court on May 31], Ms Ng concluded.
Strange Procedure
The judge asked the seven Falun Gong adherents to come to court again on the afternoon of June 14 and said they can find themselves lawyers in the meantime. The adherents pointed out that they could not get lawyer before as they had not been given an indictment. Now there are only two weeks left before the next hearing, and the time is too tight for them.
The judge said that on June 14 it would still be a pre-trial hearing. If they can find lawyer, the judge would give them more preparation time.
One of the practitioners asked what if they could not find a lawyer?
The judge said that the case would proceed regardless. If they could not find a lawyer, then they would have to defend for themselves.
A local lawyer felt it was strange that one of the defendants, Mr. Chua, had asked to defend himself and yet was still asked to attend the second pre-trial hearing. Moreover, the lawyer observed that though the seven parties are all Falun Gong practitioners, they are involved in three independent cases. The lawyer asked why would they be arranged to attend the same pre-trial hearing at the same time?
Baseless Charges
In the indictments, six of the parties were accused of “damaging public property.” The parties said that they merely put up on the wall with clay posters that describe the practice of Falun Gong and its persecution in China. They took the posters and the clay down when they left. No marks were left on the wall.
Ms. Koh, one of the practitioners, said, “We have been telling people about Falun Gong and its persecution by the Chinese regime at the Merlion Park for over ten years. Whenever the police came to say that somebody complained and asked us to take down our posters, we obeyed. They never said that we violated any law, and never said that using clay to put the posters up on the wall was damaging public property. We did not cause any damage to the wall, how could we be charged with ‘damaging public property’?”
Mr. Cheong was accused of “criminal instigation”—he was accused of inciting other Falun Gong practitioners to “damage public property.”
He thought this charge ridiculous, and said, “Falun Gong practitioners all do things based on their righteous belief in Falun Gong and their compassion for others. How can I have such power to ‘incite’ others to work so hard over so many years rain or shine?”
Chinese Regime in the Background
Falun Gong practitioners have received similar charges before. Just before the October 5 APEC meeting in 2009, five Singapore Falun Gong practitioners were at the Merlion Park, putting up posters and talking to Chinese tourists about what Falun Gong is and how it is persecuted in China, when they were handcuffed by Singapore police under the charge of “damaging public property.” They were taken to the Central Police Divisional Headquarter to record their statements, and their passports were seized.
One of the high-profile members of APEC is the People’s Republic of China, which has a history of trying to suppress the activities of Falun Gong practitioners in other countries. These attempts by the Chinese regime to suppress Falun Gong in other states particularly occur when representatives of the P.R.C. are attending international meetings.
Believing their arrests were in fact motivated by the desire of the Singapore government to please the Chinese regime, for the past seven months, Falun Gong practitioners have continuously written to various departments in the Singapore government about the persecution of Falun Gong in China.
On May 6 and 7, 2010, Singapore police made separate appointments to meet seven practitioners, who had been going regularly to Merlion Park to do Falun Gong exercises and tell the public about Falun Gong and its persecution in China.
After the practitioners arrived, they were suddenly arrested and charges of “damaging public property” and “criminal instigation” were pressed against them. The Singapore Falun Dafa Association issued a public statement on May 10 urging the Singapore government and police not to associate with the soon to disintegrate Chinese Communist Party and to unite with just and kind nations and people around the world to stop the illegal persecution of Falun Gong.
Original Chinese article: http://epochtimes.com/gb/10/6/2/n2925757.htm
One of the high-profile members of APEC is the People’s Republic of China, which has a history of trying to suppress the activities of Falun Gong practitioners in other countries. These attempts by the Chinese regime to suppress Falun Gong in other states particularly occur when representatives of the P.R.C. are attending international meetings.
Believing their arrests were in fact motivated by the desire of the Singapore government to please the Chinese regime, for the past seven months, Falun Gong practitioners have continuously written to various departments in the Singapore government about the persecution of Falun Gong in China.
On May 6 and 7, 2010, Singapore police made separate appointments to meet seven practitioners, who had been going regularly to Merlion Park to do Falun Gong exercises and tell the public about Falun Gong and its persecution in China.
After the practitioners arrived, they were suddenly arrested and charges of “damaging public property” and “criminal instigation” were pressed against them. The Singapore Falun Dafa Association issued a public statement on May 10 urging the Singapore government and police not to associate with the soon to disintegrate Chinese Communist Party and to unite with just and kind nations and people around the world to stop the illegal persecution of Falun Gong.
Original Chinese article: http://epochtimes.com/gb/10/6/2/n2925757.htm
