(Minghui.org) A married couple in Qingdao City, Shandong Province were sentenced to prison on October 18, 2023 for their faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Ms. Yu Chunli was given a four-year-and-eight-month term, and her husband, Mr. Wang Guohui, received four years and four months. They both filed appeals after the sentencing.
Latest Arrest and Prison Sentencing
When the couple was arrested on October 27, 2022, they had been forced to live away from their home in Chengyang District, Qingdao City for nearly two years, to avoid being persecuted for their faith in Falun Gong, but the police tracked them down and discovered their rental place in the same city.
A group of officers from the Chengyang District Domestic Security Office and its subordinate Jihongtan Police Station surrounded the couple’s rental place at 8:30 p.m. on October 27, 2022, and tricked their son into opening the door by saying that their home had a water leak. While arresting the couple, the police also confiscated their Falun Gong books, printer, and laptop computer.
The police kept Mr. Wang at the Jihongtan Police Station for over 40 days, and Ms. Yu for over 80 days. In their first month there, both were handcuffed around the clock and given a tiny steamed bun and some pickles for each meal. Their family sent clothes to them twice, but they never received the items.
Mr. Wang developed high blood pressure due to the abuse. He was transferred to a COVID-19 quarantine center on December 15, 2022, but still not given enough food. Ms. Yu was held at the police station for another 40 days before being taken to the quarantine center.
The police repeatedly barred the couple’s lawyer from visiting them, and gave him the run-around between their police station, the quarantine center, and the Jimo District Procuratorate. More specifically, when the lawyer went to the Jihongtan Police Station on December 14, 2022 to request a meeting with his clients, the police said they did not have the equipment for virtual meetings and directed him to inquire with the quarantine center the next day.
The lawyer proceeded to file a complaint with the procuratorate, and an official there said he should be allowed virtual meetings with his clients. He went to the quarantine center the next day and was told that the police station must issue a notice to approve the visit first. The lawyer went to the police station and officer Wang Chuankai still insisted on no virtual meetings, citing the lack of equipment. He also said that the lawyer must wait to see his clients until the end of the 14-day quarantine.
The lawyer finally visited the couple after they were transferred to the Pudong Detention Center in Jimo District on February 7, 2023. Mr. Wang was found to have contracted Hepatitis B and Ms. Yu was in a relatively good state.
The couple stood trial at the Jimo District Court on October 18, 2023. Judge Gao Fei, who has prosecuted many other local Falun Gong practitioners over the years, presided over the trial. He convicted Mr. Wang and Ms. Yu at the end of the hearing.
Prison Sentencing Stems from Earlier Persecution in 2018
The latest prison sentencing of Mr. Wang and Ms. Yu stemmed from their earlier persecution in 2018.
On the evening of June 1, 2018, one week before the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit was to be held in Qingdao, the Jihongtan Police Station officers broke into the couple’s home and arrested them, their son, and Mr. Wang’s mother. While their son and Mr. Wang’s mother were released the next day, the couple remained detained at the Jihongtan Police Station and were transferred to the Liuting Police Station on June 3. The police claimed that they would release them after the summit ended on June 10.
Mr. Wang was later taken to the Xifu Town Detention Center and Ms. Yu to the Pudong Detention Center. The police released them on bail on July 9, 2018 after forcing each of them to pay a 2,000 yuan bail bond.
Led by Qi Jianxue, a local village security director, two officers from the Jihongtan Police Station, along with a staffer from the Jihongtan Street Committee, broke into the couple’s home on November 14, 2018. They searched every room in their home, confiscating over 30 Falun Gong books and a laptop.
The couple was ordered to renew their bail condition twice for the next two years. Meanwhile, the low-income subsidies for Mr. Wang and his mother were suspended in November 2019.
Security director Qi led a group of people, including officers from the Jihongtan Police Station, staffers from the Jihongtan Street Committee, and employees from the Chengyang District Government, and broke into the couple’s home two more times, first on March 25 and then in April 2020. Their Falun Gong-related materials were confiscated. Fearing being implicated, the manager of the factory that Ms. Yu worked in got her fired in April 2020.
The Jihongtan Police Station in July 2020 submitted the couple’s case to the Chengyang District Procuratorate, which then forwarded it to the Jimo District Procuratorate.
The couple were ordered to report to the Jihongtan Police Station on January 21, 2021. As they didn’t go, the police called them again and ordered them to show up before January 26, 2021. Upon confirming that they had been indicted and were facing trial by the Jimo District Court, the couple decided to live away from home to hide from the authorities days later.
Related report:
Married Couple in Shandong Province Face Trial for Practicing Falun Gong
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