(Minghui.org) The son and daughter of a Dezhou City resident have submitted an affidavit in support of their mother’s appeal against the guilty verdict handed out after an unfair trial.
Ms. Wang Yanzhi, 60, was sentenced to 4 years in prison for refusing to renounce Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline being persecuted by the Chinese communist regime.
Her children revealed in the affidavit that the local detention center lied to them that their mother didn’t want to spend any money on legal defense. They terminated the lawyer that they had hired to defend their mother’s innocence, only to learn later that she had always wanted to fight for her constitutional right to freedom of belief, and that the detention center twice denied the lawyer’s requests to meet with her.
The siblings also wrote in the affidavit about how the local trial court failed to give advanced notice of upcoming hearings as required by law. The court called the sister at around 8 p.m. the night before their mother’s hearing. As the son works out of town, there was no way for him to get back to attend the 9 a.m. hearing scheduled for the next morning.
Only Ms. Wang’s daughter attended the trial on November 22, 2016. She was surprised to see a court-appointed lawyer entering a guilty plea for her mother, who was given 4 years of prison several weeks later.
Ms. Wang’s children hired a new lawyer to appeal her case. They also expressed their wish to testify in her defense, but Dezhou City Intermediate Court used various excuses to not accept their application. The siblings filed complaints against the higher court, which later relented and allowed them to submit their affidavit on March 23, 2017.
Ms. Wang was initially arrested on July 27, 2015, and released on bail 38 days later when her health quickly declined due to the torture she suffered. The police re-arrested her on May 22, 2016, and she has since remained captive.
She is now in precarious condition after long-term abuse at the detention center.
Family Fights for Right to Testify in Defense of Illegally Sentenced Falun Gong PractitionerShandong Woman Vows to Fight Her Unjust Prison Sentence Falun Gong Practitioner Falsely Charged and Sentenced