(Minghui.org) The Xiasha District Court in Hangzhou City announced the verdict against two women on May 12, 2014. Falun Gong practitioners Ms. Dai Chunying and Ms. Zhang Guofen received three years and three and a half years of imprisonment, respectively. Strangely, the verdict was reached seven months after the court trial.
During the hearing on October 16, 2013, the judge did not deliver a verdict for lack of evidence.
The police illegally arrested the women after someone said that they handed out Falun Gong flyers in public. Their “crime” was “sabotaging law enforcement.”
During their more than one-year incarceration in the Hangzhou Detention Center, Ms. Dai Chunying's family has made repeated requests to visit her, all of which were denied every time. When her family members indicated that her young baby needs her mother and nanny, the police told them: “Since you have no one to care for the baby, why don’t you give her to an orphanage?”
The Arrest
Ms. Dai Chunying, 33, works for a foreign company in Hangzhou. In October 2012, she brought Ms. Zhang Guofen, in her 60s, from her hometown, Dongbaizhang Village in Boye County, Hebei Province, to Hangzhou City to be a nanny for her 18-month-old daughter.
On January 19, 2013, while shopping at a supermarket, Ms. Dai, her husband, her daughter and nanny were arrested by officers from the Wenchao Police Station.
Although Ms. Dai’s husband, Mr. Wang Zhongyu, is not a Falun Gong practitioner, he was still detained for 24 hours. He was intimidated and forced to sign a statement and pay a heavy fine. The police threatened to give their daughter to an orphanage. Worried about their child’s future, Mr. Wang signed a statement and paid 10,000 yuan, and he was released.
Their daughter was so deeply traumatized that she lost control of her bladder and bowels. After she returned home with her dad, she had a high fever for several days.
Mr. Wang spent 30,000 yuan to hire two lawyers to defend his wife and Ms. Zhang Guofen.
Court Hearing
Before the hearing, Xiansha District Court officials told Ms. Dai’s husband about the hearing date of October 16, 2013. But the court refused to let her husband attend the hearing, arguing that the lawyers could represent the family. As a result, none of Ms. Dai’s family were present in the court. Furthermore, the lawyers’ defense was not considered relevant for the case.
Family Harassed and Monitored
The police have harassed the family and even harassed and monitored the couple's relatives and friends who visited Ms. Dai’s home. Ms. Dai’s husband traveled with his daughter over a thousand kilometers to his hometown, leaving the girl with her grandparents. It became so difficult for him to live in Hangzhou that he moved out of the city.
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