(Clearwisdom.net) After the Singapore Subordinate Court rushed to its verdict on the "July 20" (See below) case on November 30, a pretrial meeting was held on December 8. The meeting was to schedule a trial agenda for other practitioners who have been prosecuted by Singapore police on other fabricated charges. However, the Judge said that the plaintiffs have requested an extension of a week to consider adding new charges against the practitioners. The Judge has accepted the request and thus a pretrial hearing will be held on December 15. Practitioners believe that this is just a tactic to intimidate them and they all remain very calm.

On October 22, 2005, five practitioners distributed fliers downtown ("October 22" Case) On October 23, 2005, six practitioners distributed fliers downtown ("October 23" Case) On July 12, 2006, Ng Chye Huay protested Li Lanqing's visit outside the Chinese Embassy ("July 12" Case) On July 20, 2006, Ng Chye Huay, Erh Boon Tiong and Chen Peiyu protested the 7-year persecution of Falun Gong outside the Chinese Embassy. ("July 20" Case)

The "July 20" lawsuit ended on November 30 with Ng Chye Huay and Erh Boon Tiongand being sentenced with fines or detention terms while another practitioner defendant, Ms. Chen Peiyu, was deported after the Singapore government rushed to drop charges against the 73-year-old woman. The remaining cases involve a total of nine practitioners, and several practitioners were charged in more than one case.

During the pretrial hearing held on December 8, the Judge announced the trial of the "October 22" case will start on January 22, and the "October 23" case is expected to start in February. As no practitioners raised an objection, typically a pretrial hearing would then conclude. However, the Judge then added: "The plaintiffs have requested an extension of one week to confirm the trial schedule because they are considering adding new charges, and whether these new charges should be added to these current cases. The next pretrial meeting will be held on December 15."

Practitioner Ms. You said that the pretrial hearing was scheduled to start at 2:30 p.m. but it was delayed for 2.5 hours. When the hearing started, a major witness of the Singapore Police told a practitioner defendant that he had recently received many phones from overseas Falun Gong practitioners.

These calls were to protest the Singapore Court's unlawful trial and verdict against innocent practitioners involved in the "July 20" case. They demanded the immediate release of the practitioners, and urged the witness not to persecute Falun Gong for his best interest. During the past several days, other police officers involved in the cases and government officials have also received many phone calls.

Regarding the possible new charges, a Minghui reporter interviewed practitioner defendant Ms. Wang: "What are the possible new charges and what is the purpose for them to announce this at the court?

Ms. Wang said: "All their charges are fabricated anyway. For example, before Ms. Chen Peiyu was deported, policemen Huang Yaozong [phonetic] brought her a pile of "Serious Warnings". All of them were about her activities of distributing Falun Gong truth-clarifying materials in the past several months. That a 73-year-old senior can harass others by distributing fliers--it is totally ridiculous. All we can do is advise them not to do things against their conscience, and yet it is still up to them to decide what they are going to do."

Upon hearing the Judge's announcement, all practitioners at the pretrial hearing were very calm, though they knew very well that this was just to intimidate them. Several practitioners said: "Though they may add new charges, we will deal with these with the same attitude. However, we will try to advise them not to do so for their own benefit. It is so evident that they are very weak inside. From conducting secret trials against us, banning media reports, to intimating us with such statements--they are so afraid to have their wrongdoings brought into the daylight and they apparently don't have any good methods."

Practitioner Ng Chye Huay, who is still under detention, was also brought to the Court. As soon as she entered the courtroom, she shouted: "Falun Dafa is Good." It was a really touching moment. She seemed to be very calm. She briefly told fellow practitioners: "Cultivation is most righteous and I am very relaxed." Ms. Ng was sentenced to prison for 15 days for conducting a protest outside the Chinese Embassy.

Reportedly, practitioner Erh Boon Tiong was released at noon on December 8 and his relatives and several practitioners welcomed him outside the prison. Mr. Erh was sentenced to prison for 10 days for the same reason.

Posting date: 12/11/2006
Original article date: 12/11/2006
Category: Eyewitness Accounts
Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2006/12/9/144295.html

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