(Minghui.org) The Lianshui County Procuratorate recently filed a motion to withdraw its indictment against a local woman, who had been awaiting a retrial after the local appeals court revoked the original guilty verdict against her.
With the charges dropped, Ms. Ma Xuerong now has a clean record, though the Lianshui County Court has decided against offering compensation for her wrongful conviction.
Arrested and Sentenced for Publicizing Falun Gong
Ms. Ma was arrested on June 16, 2016, while talking to people about Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline being persecuted by the Chinese communist regime.
She was placed on criminal detention the next day and issued a formal arrest warrant weeks later, on June 29.
The police visited her family multiple times, promising to release her as soon as they signed some paperwork. Her family felt that the paperwork was going to be used against her, so they refused to cooperate with the police.
The Lianshui County Court sentenced Ms. Ma to 2 years in prison and fined her 5,000 yuan on December 16, 2016, without informing her family or lawyer.
Appeal Leads to Case Dismissal
Ms. Ma immediately filed an appeal. Several people from the Huaian City Intermediate Court questioned her at the local detention center in February 2017. She argued that no law in China criminalizes Falun Gong and that she should never have been sentenced for exercising her constitutional right to freedom of belief.
The higher court ordered her released on February 21 and issued a decision five days later to overturn the original verdict and order a retrial.
Judge Chen Junlin from the Liangshui County Court visited Ms. Ma on May 12 and delivered the court’s decision to drop her case. Chen said that the decision was based on the Lianshui County Procuratorate’s April 27 recommendation to withdraw the indictment against her.
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