(Minghui.org) Two residents in Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province were wrongly convicted for practicing Falun Gong, a meditation practice persecuted in China since 1999. Mr. Chen Yinru was sentenced to 3 years and 9 months and Ms. Wu Xingying a year. Both of them have served their time and been released in May 2020.
After Being Imprisoned for 6.5 Years, Veteran Sentenced to Prison Again
Before the arrest, veteran Mr. Chen Yinru worked as a manager in an insurance company. He was twice imprisoned prior to his latest sentence in 2016, both times also for refusing to renounce his practice of Falun Gong. The first time he was put in Wuxi Prison in 2004 for three years. He was locked in the same prison again in 2009 for 3.5 years.
Five police officers arrested Mr. Chen on August 18, 2016. He was interrogated at Loufeng Police Station and transferred to Huangdai Detention Center that night.
Mr. Chen pleaded not guilty at his trial on May 26, 2017. The prosecutor presented a video evidence showing the backside view of two men riding bikes at different times. It did not show the face of Mr. Chen nor the Falun Gong materials he was accused of distributing. The lawyer also argued that no law in China criminalizes Falun Gong and that his client should not have been prosecuted for exercising his constitutional right to freedom of belief.
Two hours into the hearing, the judge gave Mr. Chen 3 years and 9 months and a 5,000-yuan fine. His family appealed and without holding another hearing, the judge of the appeal court withheld the original sentence and sent Mr. Chen to Suzhou Prison.
Mr. Chen was released on May 17, 2020.
Arrested at Home, 73-year-old Sentenced to a Year
Thirteen police officers broke into a couple’s home at six o’clock in the morning on May 10, 2019, and arrested them. Both of them were 73 years old at the time of the arrest.
According to the husband Mr. Sheng Gengsheng, who was released the day after the arrest, they were interrogated at Huangdai Police Station. He overheard the police saying that his wife Ms. Wu Xingying’s blood pressure was very high after the arrest. He later learned that she was transferred to Huangdai Detention Center.
The authorities tried Ms. Wu on January 17, 2020, in Wujiang Court in Suzhou City. She was given a year on May 8 with a 1,000-yuan fine. She was released on May 23, 2020.
Related reports:
Having Been Twice Imprisoned for His Faith, Jiangsu Veteran Is Arrested Again
Prosecutor’s Lies Debunked in Trial of Falun Gong Practitioner
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