HONG KONG - A Hong Kong man arrested for carrying Falun Gong materials into mainland China faces trial there Friday, according to fellow members of the spiritual group who worry authorities will make an example of him.
"They've already decided he's guilty. They're deferring to the wishes of senior Chinese leaders," said Kan Hung-cheung, a Hong Kong-based spokesman for Falun Gong, a spiritual movement outlawed in the mainland as an "evil cult."
Suen Chung-man was detained while trying to cross from Hong Kong into the border city of Shenzhen on May 14, when the Chinese authorities found in his luggage 100 video compact discs showing Falun Gong activities, said his wife, Wong Am.
Mainland police then raided a home Suen keeps in Shenzhen and seized 1,000 more Falun Gong VCDs, Wong said.
The Falun Gong remains legal in Hong Kong and frequently protests against Beijing's often-deadly crackdown in the mainland.
Suen, 47, was scheduled to face trial Friday in Shenzhen, Wong said, adding that her lawyer predicted Suen's case would take less than a day and end with a prison sentence of at least five years.
The Falun Gong released what it called an official letter from Shenzhen police, saying that Suen was arrested for allegedly "obstructing law enforcement through evil cult activities."
A telephone call to Shenzhen police's Longgang branch, which issued the letter, went unanswered Thursday afternoon.