(Minghui.org) Hu Aimin was convicted and sentenced for repeatedly vandalising Falun Gong booths in Hong Kong with his accomplices from 2020 to 2021. He appealed his sentence. On July 25, 2024, Deputy Judge Yiu Fun-chi of the Court of First Instance of the High Court dismissed yet another appeal by Hu, saying that the trial magistrate’s sentence of 15 weeks’ imprisonment was too lenient.
On April 3, 2021, Hu Aimin and two accomplices destroyed Falun Gong booths in Wong Tai Sin and Mong Kok. In 2023, Magistrate Mr. Leung Nga-yan of the Kowloon City Magistrates’ Courts convicted Hu Aimin of two counts of “criminal damage” and sentenced him to 15 weeks of imprisonment. Co-defendant, Zhou Yonglin, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to nine weeks in prison. Hu Aimin and Zhou Yonglin were also required to pay HK$2,300 in compensation to the victims.
Judge Yiu said that the appellant’s argument was not convincing. He noted that the police seized Hu Aimin’s mobile phone, showing that he sent a WeChat message the night before the crime: “We will target all Falun Gong [practitioners] in Hong Kong tomorrow. I want people to come out on their own. Do you support it?” The “tomorrow” in the message referred to the day the crime was committed.
The message was therefore not just an expression of dissatisfaction with Falun Gong as the appellant claimed.
Also, Hu Aimin’s mobile phone records showed 32 calls with defendant Zhou Yonglin. Zhou Yonglin was the man in black who destroyed the boards. Judge Yiu quoted the judgment of the trial magistrate as saying that Hu Aimin participated in the premeditation in the case and played a leading role.
Judge Yiu also pointed out that the evidence in the case included footage from several CCTV cameras and photos and videos of the crime scene, showing that Hu Aimin left with the man in black and the man in white who destroyed the booth after the incident, and they ate at the same table in a restaurant. Hu also waved to the man in white and shared his mobile phone screen with him. These acts all occurred within a short period of time after the incident and should be considered in the context of the case as a whole. Considering all the evidence above, the only reasonable inference is that Hu and the other two each carried out certain acts as they worked together to commit criminal destruction.
Judge Yiu also rejected Hu’s appeal against his sentence. Judge Yiu pointed out that Hu Aimin committed the crime with others, premeditated the crime the night before, and played a leading role in the crime, and that he committed the crime openly in the middle of the city, and that the sentence of 15 weeks’ imprisonment was too lenient.
From 2020 to 2021, Hu Aimin repeatedly destroyed Falun Gong practitioners’ booths, resulting in two cases against him. The appeal in another case in relation to the destruction of the Falun Gong booth in Hong Kong five times in 2020 was dismissed by Judge Yiu on June 20 this year. The original sentence was two weeks’ imprisonment suspended for 30 months. Hu also has four criminal convictions, including for violent crimes, and has been fined more than once for gambling.
One of the victims in the case, Mr. Wong, a Falun Gong practitioner, was in the courtroom on July 25. He testified during the trial that he was doing the exercises near Wong Tai Sin Square and displaying banners and display boards when two thugs used knives to smash his exhibits and spray painted them.
He said the judge was right to dismiss the appeal and that was what he’d expected. He said that, while he informed people about the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) persecution of Falun Gong, he was repeatedly harassed and threatened by pro-CCP thugs, and some beat him. He believes that this case will serve as a warning and calls on those who help the CCP persecute Falun Gong to stop doing evil.
The U.S. State Department References This Case
This case has attracted international attention. On June 26, 2024, the U.S. State Department released the “2023 Global Religious Freedom Report,” which refers to the sentencing results of this case in the chapter on Hong Kong. The report notes that Hong Kong Falun Gong practitioners have been harassed by organisations with ties to the CCP.
Falun Gong practitioners in Hong Kong, who peacefully protest the CCP’s persecution, have been attacked by its peripheral organisations and thugs for a long time. The weeks before and after this incident, at least six Falun Gong sites in Hong Kong were damaged over 10 times. Eight people were subsequently arrested, six of whom were convicted and sentenced. According to police sources, most of those involved have ties to gangster organisations.
On April 12, 2021, nine days after the incident, the Epoch Times printing plant in Hong Kong was attacked, and the machinery and computer were destroyed. On May 11 that year, a mob beat Liang Zhen, president of the Falun Dafa Association in Hong Kong, with sticks. He suffered multiple bruises.
Another high-profile case happened in September 2019, when practitioner Ms. Liao was attacked and her head bloodied after a meeting with the police to discuss a demonstration to be held on October 1. Ke Yanzhan, 22, who was responsible for “keeping a lookout” at the scene, was sentenced to two years and nine months’ imprisonment in 2022 for the offense of “injury with intent.”
Falun Gong Has Been Persecuted for 25 Years
July 20, 2024, marks 25 years since the persecution of Falun Gong began. The CCP’s atrocities, such as organ harvesting from living practitioners, have been internationally condemned. On June 25, 2024, the U.S. Congress passed the Falun Gong Protection Act. The bill sanctions those involved in live organ harvesting in China.
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