Pro-Beijing Attackers Guilty and Jailed After Cell Phone Proves Premeditated Attacks on Falun Gong in Hong Kong

In April 2021, Falun Gong members and their street stalls in Hong Kong were attacked many times by a group believed to belong to the CCP. The police later arrested eight people. Four admitted to the crime of criminal damage and were sentenced to eight months in prison, while one person was not prosecuted.

The remaining three defendants were, Zhou Yonglin (43 years old, construction worker), Hu Aimin (47 years old, unemployed), and Tuo Chun Sun (53 years old), were brought before the court on March 28. Each arrestee was charged with two counts of criminal damage.

Hu, Tuo, and Zhou were indicted on a charge of destroying Falun Gong members’ displays in Wong Tai Sin and Mongkok on April 3, 2021, with damages totaling HK$7,000. The three were later charged with two counts of criminal damage.

Initially, the three defendants planned to plead not guilty. However, Zhou switched his plea at the last minute, right before court began.

The case was heard at the Kowloon City Magistrates’ Court in Hong Kong on March 28 by Magistrate Frances Leung Nga-yan.

The prosecution presented some message screenshots, such as “If something transpires, the boss will pay for the living expenses,” sent via defendant Hu’s confiscated cell phone the night before the crime.

Hu contacted someone named “Kit,” and wrote, “let’s mess up Falun Gong everywhere tomorrow!”

Hu also followed his plan with another message to the unknown person, “Kit,” that if something happened to him, “his boss” behind the attack order would take care of him and pay for living expenses.

Action Premeditated

The prosecution requested to submit Hu’s cell phone message screenshots as evidence. Since Hu sent those messages before the incident, the prosecutors believed the defendants had planned, organized, and later committed the crime.

Hu’s defense lawyer objected to the prosecution’s request to present the messages as evidence in court. The defense admitted that the screenshots were from Hu’s cell phone but argued that the text messages pre-and post the action was irrelevant to the case.

The magistrate concluded that the WeChat messages included mentions of Falun Gong; hence, they were relevant to the case and approved the prosecution’s submission request.

As for the other SMS messages, the judge denied their entry as evidence since nothing relevant was said related to the case.

Defendant Suspects Caught on Camera

The prosecution summoned police officer Chu from the Hong Kong West Kowloon Crimes Unit, who was involved with the case.

Officer Chu stated that from comparing the clothes and figures, the three defendants looked very similar to the three people on video who committed the attack at the crime scene.

Several videos played by the court showed that two men wearing black and white shirts used Stanley knives to cut and damage Falun Gong practitioners’exhibits in Wong Tai Sin and Mong Kok. They also sprayed the displays with paint. A man in a floral shirt was shown filming the process.

The police found clothing at the defendant’s home similar to those worn at the crime scene; they also found knives suspected of being used to tear apart the Falun Gong exhibits.

The court played several surveillance footage videos, revealing to the witnesses that the three men left Nathan Road after committing the crime in Mongkok and went into the Ocean Fish and Seafood Restaurant in Jordan for dinner together.

The witnesses identified the three defendants from the photos prosecutors showed.

In the photo, there was apparent writing of a pro-Beijing slogan on a T-shirt worn by suspect Zhou, which translated into “We Chinese do not buy into this trickery.”

Later in the day, the magistrate announced the case would adjourn until April 4. The three defendants were granted bail under the original conditions.

Attacks Targetting Falun Gong in Hong Kong

The CCP has been persecuting Falun Gong in China since 1999. Even though Hong Kong Falun Gong members had been able to protest against the regime’s persecution peacefully, they continued to be harassed and threatened by pro-communist organizations.

The CCP’s disruption of Falun Gong activities in Hong Kong has been ongoing since 2012.

At least six other Falun Gong exhibition stalls in Hong Kong were damaged almost a dozen times around the same time as the offences in April 2021.

The Pro-communists Involved Are Repeat Offenders

Hu Aimin, one of the defendants, has been a frequent offender in harassing and destroying Falun Gong stalls. In December 2020 alone, Hu targeted and destroyed the Falun Gong outdoor exhibits five times.

He was later convicted and sentenced to two weeks imprisonment with 30 months probation.

Attacks Become Increasingly Vicious

In September 2019, Ms. Liu, a Falun Gong practitioner, bled heavily after CCP thugs had beaten her after she had met with the Hong Kong police to discuss a parade planned for Oct. 1, 2019, a tactic suspected of being used by the CCP to deter the group.

Ke Yanzhan, a 22-year-old man in charge of staking out, was sentenced to two years and nine months in prison for “injuring people with intention” in 2022.

Falun Gong

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a mind and body practice that follows the universal principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance and is rooted in 5,000 years of Chinese culture and history. Since the introduction of the practice in 1992, Falun Gong has attracted tens of millions of adherents worldwide with its tranquil exercises and meditation, as well as its teachings on becoming a better person.

However, the former leader of China’s communist regime, Jiang Zemin, initiated a campaign of persecution against Falun Gong in 1999. Since then, vast numbers of Falun Gong practitioners have fallen victim to the persecution, and the regime’s propaganda machine has intoxicated and victimized China’s massive populace—causing many to unconsciously become accomplices of the brutal campaign.