(Minghui.org) Six Daqing City, Heilongjiang Province residents were given prison terms ranging from 3.5 to 7 years on December 23, 2020 for their faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Arrests and Home-ransacking
Ms. Lu Chaobo, 50, Ms. Wang Yuhong, 54, Mr. Zhang Wansheng, 46, Ms. Chen Weibo, 45, Ms. Xue Liwei, 47, and Ms. Dong Na, 51, were arrested by over 50 officers on July 9, 2020. Ms. Chen’s child was also arrested, but was released later that day. It’s reported that the police had monitored the practitioners for several months before arresting them.
All practitioners had their homes ransacked and were interrogated.
Ms. Lu had 49 Falun Gong books, a photo of Falun Gong’s founder, 85 Falun Gong booklets, and a laptop taken away.
Ms. Wang’s one Falun Gong book, a tablet and two cellphones were confiscated.
Mr. Zhang’s one Falun Gong book, 480 Falun Gong booklets, 125 flyers, a printer and two paper cutters were confiscated.
Ms. Chen’s over 80 Falun Gong books, 900 booklets, 14 DVDs and 100 banknotes with information printed on themabout Falun Gong were confiscated.
Ms. Xue’s over 90 Falun Gong books, 211 flyers, a laptop, 14 DVDs and a printer were seized.
Ms. Dong had 30 Falun Gong books, 44 booklets, 55 flyers and 20 tapes taken away.
Due to a heart condition, Ms. Lu was released on the next day. The other five practitioners were taken to the Dumeng County Detention Center. Ms. Lu and Ms. Dong Na, who was released on bail ten days later, were arrested again on August 11 and also held at the Dumeng County Detention Center.
Court Hearing
The Lindian County Police Department submitted the practitioners’ cases to the Ranghulu District Procuratorate on August 16, 2020, with the charge of “undermining law enforcement with a cult organization,” the standard pretext used by the Chinese authorities to criminalize Falun Gong practitioners. Meanwhile, the practitioners were also transferred to the Daqing City No. 2 Detention Center.
The prosecutor indicted the practitioners on November 18. The practitioners were tried through a video conference by the Ranghulu District Court a month later on December 15. Ms. Chen and Ms. Dong weren’t represented by a lawyer.
Ms. Wang’s lawyer argued that the prosecutor lacked evidence to charge his client with “attending Falun Gong practitioners’ gathering and printing promotional materials about Falun Gong” solely based on a surveillance video footage of Ms. Wang entering Ms. Chen’s home empty-handed.
The indictment also stated that Ms. Wang rode in Ms. Chen’s car and went to Lindian County to distribute Falun Gong materials at a certain time on May 21, 2020. But in the supporting evidence, a video supplied by a prosecution witness, one couldn’t see the people’s faces clearly, much less what they were holding in their hands. The video’s timestamp also showed a two-hour difference between the time of the two women allegedly distributing materials as indicated in the indictment and the time shown in the video. The lawyer concluded that the video was inadmissible and demanded its removal from the prosecution evidence, but the prosecutor didn’t respond.
Ms. Wang testified in her own defense. She insisted that she was innocent and didn’t do anything wrong in practicing Falun Gong.
Ms. Lu and Mr. Zhang’s lawyers also entered not guilty pleas for them and testified against the police and the prosecutor for violating legal procedures. The lawyers said that the prosecutor forwarded the cases to the local court without a required document.
The judge announced the verdicts of the practitioners’ cases on December 23. Ms. Lu and Ms. Wang were each sentenced to seven years with 70,000 yuan fine. Mr. Zhang was given six years with a 50,000-yuan fine. Ms. Xue and Ms. Chen were each sentenced to four years with a 40,000-yuan fine. Ms. Dong received three and a half years with a 30,000-yuan fine.
Ms. Lu, Ms. Wang and Mr. Zhang appealed with the Daqing City Intermediate Court. Judge Wu Yang ruled to uphold their original verdicts on April 2, 2021.
Previous Persecution
Four of the practitioners, including Ms. Lu, Ms. Wang, Mr. Zhang and Ms. Xue have been persecuted before for practicing Falun Gong.
Ms. Lu Chaobo
Ms. Lu, an elementary school teacher, was arrested on October 22, 2015 for filing a criminal complaint against Jiang Zemin, the former head of the Chinese communist regime who ordered the persecution in 1999. She was detained for 15 days and extorted 1,000 yuan.
Ms. Lu and her sister (who doesn’t practice Falun Gong) drove to the Daqing West Train Station to pick up her son on April 4, 2018, when the college student came home to visit. The police searched Ms. Lu’s bag, snatched her car key and attempted to search her car. The harassment lasted for over two hours before Ms. Lu and her family were allowed to go home.
Ms. Wang Yuhong
Ms. Wang, an accountant at a seeds shop, was first arrested and detained for 12 days in December 1999 for signing a banner that said “Falun Dafa is good.” Her workplace was forced to pay 5,000 yuan to the police as a “reserve fund,” which would be used to cover the police’s travel expenses to Beijing should Ms. Wang go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong.
Since then, the police often talked to Ms. Wang and told her to give up practicing Falun Gong. The police also constantly summoned her to the police station and demanded that she report to them and turn in her Falun Gong materials when traveling out of town.
In late 2000, the police tried to pressure her to write a statement to renounce Falun Gong again. When she refused, she was arrested on the last day of 2000 and detained for six months and five days. At the same time, both she and her husband Mr. Ma Xiquan were fired by their workplaces.
When she was released in July 2001, the police forced her to pay a 3,000-yuan bail bond and 1,850 yuan for the food during her detention.
Ms. Wang and her husband were arrested and detained again while talking to other practitioners on the street on June 20, 2012.
For filing a criminal complaint against Jiang Zemin, Ms. Wang was arrested again on May 3, 2017. She was detained for 15 days and fined 1,000 yuan.
Mr. Zhang Wansheng
Mr. Zhang, a school principal, was also arrested on May 3, 2017 for suing Jiang. He was detained for seven days and fined 500 yuan.
Ms. Xue Liwei
Ms. Xue, a middle school teacher, began to practice Falun Gong in 2007. She was arrested on October 22, 2015 for suing Jiang and was detained 15 days and fined 1,000 yuan.
Perpetrators’ contact information:
Wang Guangming (王广明), judge of Ranghulu District Court: +86-18145999201, +86-13359594008Zhou Han (周涵), clerk: +86-13199099298Feng Guang (封光), prosecutor of Ranghulu District Procuratorate: +86-459-5974007, +86-459-5974201, +86-18645990001, +86-13351196789, +86-13089060016, +86-13159835666Wu Yang (伍洋), judge of Daqing City Intermediate CourtXu Man (徐曼), clerk of Daqing City Intermediate Court: +86-459-6829270Liu Guoxi (刘国喜), judge assistant: +86-459-6829503, +86-15304860061, +86-13059040900Zhao Peng (赵鹏), judge: +86-15304860051Zhang Peng (张澎), judge: +86-459-6829127, +86-13936999956
(More perpetrators’ contact information is available in the original Chinese article.)
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