(Minghui.org) A Danyang City, Jiangsu Province resident received a one-year prison sentence for spreading information about her faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual and meditation practice that has been persecuted by the communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Gu Jinping was convicted by Danyang City Court on February 13, 2019. She remains at Zhenjiang Detention Center at the time of writing.
Ms. Gu was arrested at work on July 4, 2018, two weeks after being reported for handing out a DVD with information about Falun Gong to a stranger on the street on June 17.
The police ransacked her home, kept her at the detention center for two weeks, and then put her under house arrest.
The police submitted her case to the procuratorate, which then forwarded it to the court during her house arrest. She was charged with “undermining law enforcement with a cult organization,” a standard pretext used by the Chinese legal system to imprison Falun Gong practitioners.
Judge Zhang Suqin threatened Ms. Gu before her first court hearing that if she didn't write a statement to renounce Falun Gong, they would sentence her to 3 to 7 years in prison. Ms. Gu refused to comply.
During the hearing, Ms. Gu requested the prosecution witness to appear in court to accept cross-examination. Prosecutor Zhang Lei responded that it was not necessary for them to summon the witness and that Ms. Gu could talk to him in private after the hearing. Prosecutor Zhang also blamed Ms. Gu for wasting their time and delaying the court session.
Ms. Gu entered a non-guilty plea for herself. She challenged the prosecutor and judge to specify which law has ever criminalized Falun Gong and what law they alleged her to have undermined.
Unable to answer her questions, judge Zhang adjourned the trial. He sentenced Ms. Gu to one year in prison during her second hearing on February 13 without letting her read her prepared defense.
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