February 11, 2000

The Hong Kong Information Center for Human Rights and Democratic Movement reported that Ms. Qiu-ju Gao, a key contact person of Falun Gong in Dalian City, was recently sentenced to 9 years in prison by the Court of Xi-gang district of Dalian City.

The center said that the authorities sentenced Ms. Qiu-ju Gao on February 1, while her family did not receive the notice of the sentence until February 10.

The 59-year-old Qiu-ju Gao was the president of a foreign trade company. She became the key contact person of Falun Gong in Dalian City in 1994. She was arrested on July 24 1999 under the accusation of "organizing April 25 event", "giving the government's secret documents on cracking down Falun Gong to Zhi-wen Wang in Beijing", etc.

The center also disclosed that the four major contact people who were sentenced on December 26 of last year, Chang Li, Zhi-wen Wang and Lie-wu Ji are being detained in the No. 1 Prison of Beijing, and Jie Yao is being detained in the Beijing Women Prison