(Minghui.org) A Beijing resident was sentenced to prison for her faith in Falun Gong and her appeal was recently rejected by the Beijing No.2 Intermediate Court.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is an ancient spiritual and meditation discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Li Yuhua, 67, was arrested on May 22, 2019 and sentenced to one year with a 1,000 yuan fine by the Fengtai Court on September 29, 2020.
Ms. Li recounted several violations of legal procedures in her appeal.
She said that police officers Niu Bo and Song Dongming didn’t wear their uniforms or show their IDs while arresting her. When a retired police officer who happened to be passing by tried to stop them, Niu and Song didn’t listen, but blamed Ms. Li for trying to distribute Falun Gong materials to passersby.
Ms. Li also said that the Fengtai Court appointed lawyer Shang Wei to represent her. After Shang deceived her into signing his representation document, he said to her, “The local court has hired me for 15 years to represent Falun Gong practitioners. I enter guilty pleas on their behalf and most of them have been convicted and sent to prison.”
During her court hearings, the presiding judge took away the defense script she prepared and ordered Shang to enter a guilty plea for her, despite her opposition.
Police officers Niu and Song presented some Falun Gong DVDs as prosecution evidence against her, but Ms. Li said those DVDs were not hers and she didn’t know where the officers got them. She said the judge didn’t even bother to confirm whether they were her belongings and also ignored her request to play them in court to verify if the DVDs were sufficient to prove the charge against her.
The intermediate court recently rejected her appeal. As she had been released earlier due to her contracting tuberculosis in the local detention center, it’s not clear whether she has been taken back into custody to serve time.
Related reports:
Beijing Woman Sentenced to One Year for Talking to People about Falun Gong
TB-Stricken Woman Made to Stand Trial, Almost Collapses in Court
Court-appointed Lawyer Threatens to Send Falun Gong Practitioner to Jail
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