(Minghui.org) Court officials went to Ms. Hong Shuyun's home on June 25, 2019 to announce that she had been sentenced to two years in prison and fined 5,000 yuan for her faith in Falun Gong.
Ms. Hong, an 81-year-old resident of Fushun City, Liaoning Province, was taken to Nangou Detention Center hours later for a physical examination. After Ms. Hong returned home, the officials said they would request additional physical examinations in order to detain her.
Falun Gong, also known as a Falun Dafa, is a meditation system composed of physical exercises and the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. After the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began to suppress the group in July 1999, a large number of practitioners have been arrested, detained, and tortured.
Ms. Hong's sentencing came months after the local Procuratorate and court officials visited her home to have “court hearings.”
Framing and Home Ransacking
Two officers from Gongnong Police Station in Fushun City went to Ms. Hong’s home on September 20, 2017. They showed a picture in a cell phone and claimed that person had given Ms. Hong calendars bearing information about Falun Gong. Although Ms. Hong said she did not know the person, the police began to ransack her home. When Ms. Hong protested her innocence, officers pushed her around and demanded her ID card.
Following the ransacking, officials took away her Falun Gong books and materials, along with a computer and cell phones. Ms. Hong was next taken to the Gongnong Police Station, where she saw that seven Falun Gong practitioners were already kept there.
Following interrogation and overnight detention, Ms. Hong was sent to the Nangou Detention Center. Because of her unusually high blood pressure, detention center officials refused to accept her. Police took her back to the police station and forced her to sign a prepared document with her fingerprint before sending her home.
Indictment and Hearing
Ms. Hong was summoned to the police station in March 2018. The police ordered her to sign documents to renounce her belief and to pay a fine of 3,000 yuan.
Ms. Hong explained that freedom of belief was granted by the Chinese Constitution, and that Falun Gong improved both mind and body. In fact, her tracheitis and asthma disappeared after she began practicing Falun Gong. She refused to comply with the police demand and her daughter-in-law was later called to come pick her up.
Four staff members from Wanghua Procuratorate went to Ms. Hong’s home on March 5, 2019 and said she was being prosecuted. They returned on March 23 and gave her an indictment. They asked her to be prepared for a court hearing, and she said she would never go to the courthouse because she had not violated any laws. They then said they would hold hearings at her home.
Six agents, including a court president, a prosecutor, and a clerk, showed up at Ms. Hong's home on April 15. They read aloud a document to her.
Seven people came on May 31 and said they needed to have a second hearing of her case. They claimed that they found 680 DVDs from her home and 580 of them contained Falun Gong information.
Ms. Hong denied those charges, as she wasn't aware of that many DVDs being confiscated from her home. She also reminded them that she never knew the person who the police claimed to have given her calendars.
They ordered her daughter-in-law to sign a document, but she stopped the younger woman from doing so because practicing Falun Gong is not illegal.
Key Responsible Personnel:Gao Jian: director of Wanghua Court, +86-13904130339
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