SINGAPORE – A court hearing for two lawsuits brought against 11 Falun Gong practitioners by the Singapore police was held simultaneously on July 28. The first lawsuit was launched against three practitioners for protesting in front of the Chinese embassy.
The second lawsuit charged nine Falun Gong adherents with illegal assembly. Their defendse attorney did not have sufficient time to prepare for both lawsuits and decided to defend the individuals who protested at the embassy. In the case of illegal assembly, only one defendant was willing to make a self-represented defense while the remaining eight were forced to face the court themselves.
In court, one defendant requested for eight witnesses, including Singapore Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew and Minister for Home Affairs Wong Kan Seng.
On the morning of July 28, with the exception of Wang Yuyi, the remaining 8 defendants of the first charge and the 3 defendants of the second charge had engaged a legal counsel on July 27 to represent them. Originally, the judge set the trial date to be Monday July 31, the next working day from last Friday. The defense counsel explained that it is impossible to prepare for the trial commencing on the next working day. The judge eventually set the trial dates for the first and second charge to August 21 and 28 respectively. As the two court hearings are too close to each other, the defense counsel again explained to the judge that it is impossible for her to give adequate attention to both cases. When her request for postponing the second case to a later date was turned down, she declared to the judge that she would discharge herself from the first case. The nine accused practitioners now had to defend themselves with the trial date brought forward to August 14.
"This is against our wishes," Falun Gong practitioner Shen Jian said to the judge when asked about the opinion of the defendants for making a self defense. Shen felt regretful because the group spent much effort procuring a lawyer to defend both cases.
The plaintiff will have two witnesses. The defendant Wang Yuyi hopes to summon eight witnesses. Wang said, "The first is Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew."
Wang subsequently listed the remaining seven witnesses she would like to summon. They are Deputy Prime Minister cum, Minister for Home Affairs Wong Kan Seng, Singapore Police Force Operations Department Deputy Director Operations Yeo Ai Leng, Tanglin police station Commander Paul Lim Choon Wui, Tanglin police station Deputy Commander Keok Tong San, Tanglin police station investigations department head Deep Singh, Tanglin police station investigations department officer Eddi Ho and an officer from Tanglin police station who told practitioners to keep the banners on October 23, 2005. Wang said, "I don't know the name of this officer. He told us to keep the banners on that day and said we would be all right if we did so."
The judge reminded Wang that witnesses summoned by the defendants should be those acting in their favor and not summoned to be interrogated.
Wang said, "These witnesses are well trained professionals. I do not need them to act in favor of or against me. I only want them to tell the truth. If the courts can try the two cases justly, I believe in the end it will be proven that there is no case against Falun Gong practitioners."
The judge has decided the hearing for the illegal assembly lawsuit will be held from August 14 to 18 and the case for the protest outside the Chinese embassy will be from August 28 to September 1.
A reporter asked Wang why she wanted Lee Kuan Yew as a witness. She said that the witnesses she asked for were directly involved in the two cases. Wang stated that for many years she had come into contact with many policemen and several government officers. Most of them told her that the actions taken against Falun Gong practitioners were orders from the top and were not their own wishes.
Wang also mentioned that since it was reported on May 8 that Lee Kuan Yew had invited former head of 610 Office Li Lanqing to accept an honorary doctorate from the National University of Singapore, a spate of incidents targeted at Falun Gong practitioners subsequently took place, including the repatriation of two practitioners and two lawsuits brought against local practitioners. These incidents involved many departments in the Ministry of Home Affairs such as the Immigration department, the Singapore Police Force, the Labor Department etc.
As to whether the court will summon Lee Kuan Yew to be a witness Wang said, "I am only making use of my right to call upon witnesses. I hope the courts will try the cases justly and summon my witnesses."
On July 14, the Singapore police brought charges against nine Falun Gong practitioners, including Wang Yuyi, for participating in an illegal assembly on Orchard Road last October. Falun Gong practitioners claimed that they were only handing out flyers in small groups and did not conduct any assembly.
On July 21, the Singapore police brought charges against Ng Chye Huay, Erh Boon Tiong and Chen Peiyu for displaying a banner opposite the Chinese Embassy on July 20. They were charged with "harassment by displaying insulting writings – with common intention." The words on the banner were "Stop Persecution of Falun Gong in China" in English and Chinese.
Ng Chye Huay is also charged in the first case of illegal assembly.
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