(Minghui.org) Five Tangshan City, Hebei Province residents were recently sentenced to prison for practicing Falun Gong.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Geng Fuxia was sentenced to eight years with a 10,000 yuan fine.Mr. Wei Guoshen was sentenced to three years and eight months with a 5,000 yuan fine.Ms. Wang Xiuhong was sentenced to three years with a 3,000 yuan fine.Ms. Fu Ruiying was sentenced to two years with a 3,000 yuan fine.Ms. Lu Caiyun was sentenced to one year and five months with a 3,000 yuan fine.
The practitioners were arrested in a police sweep on June 18, 2020. Ms. Geng, Ms. Fu, and Mr. Wei were later released on bail due to health issues. Ms. Lu and Ms. Wang remain in custody in the Tangshan City No. 1 Detention Center.
During the hearing in the Zunhua Court on September 15, 2021, Mr. Wei testified that the police covered his head with a plastic bag filled with an unknown drug three times within a few hours. He almost suffocated from the fumes and couldn’t stop crying. Foggy-headed, he repeated what the police told him to say.
The prosecutor claimed that of the 18,400 yuan in cash confiscated from Mr. Wei, the police had returned 8,400 yuan, which Mr. Wei said he never received. Mr. Wei added that the Liushahe Police Station officers intimidated him and searched his home again prior to the hearing. The police also forced him to sign and press his fingerprints on a document stating that 10,000 out of the 18,400 yuan confiscated from him was a fine imposed on him, and that he should also not expect to get back the remaining 8,400 yuan.
When she defended herself, Ms. Geng presented several Falun Gong keepsakes used as evidence to charge her and other practitioners. “Take a look at them! How do I undermine law enforcement with these items?” She also said that practicing her faith was a constitutionally protected right.
The judge announced the practitioners’ verdicts on October 15, 2021.
Related report:
Targeted in a Police Sweep, Five Hebei Residents Tried for Their Faith
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