(Minghui.org) A 50-year-old woman in Nong’an County, Jilin Province was sentenced to 3.5 years with a 10,000-yuan fine on August 18, 2023 for practicing Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) since July 1999.

Ms. Pan Yanjun submitted her appeal three days later and the case is pending at the Changchun City Intermediate Court 

Ms. Pan Yanjun

Arrested on March 2, 2023

A group of officers from the Qingshan Township Police Station in Nong’an County raided Ms. Pan’s childhood home in Nantaizi Village on March 2, 2023. They then proceeded to raid her residence in Nong’an County and arrested her. The next day they took her to the Nong’an County Detention Center, where she remains.

Police chief Liu Xiaolin led the arrest and submitted Ms. Pan’s case to the Nong’an County Procuratorate, which then forwarded it to the Dehui City Procuratorate.

Ms. Pan’s family hired a lawyer from Beijing to represent her. The Nong’an County Police Department and the Nong’an County Procuratorate, however, used various excuses to not allow the lawyer to meet with his client or review her case documents (which at the time were still with the county procuratorate). The lawyer dropped the case.

The second lawyer Ms. Pan’s family hired was able to review her case documents, but only after they were submitted to the Dehui City Court. He was not allowed to visit her at the detention center. The detention center director listed more than twelve conditions that the lawyer had to meet before being approved for visitation, even though by law, defense attorneys are entitled to visit their clients in detention without any prerequisites.

Unable to review her case documents, Ms. Pan’s lawyer was effectively deprived of his right to defend her to the best of his ability.

Tried on July 13, 2023

Judge Jia Xiaoqiu heard Ms. Pan’s case at the Dehui City Court on July 13, 2023. No family member was allowed to attend the trial.

Prosecutor Yu Xianhe accused Ms. Pan of violating Article 300 of the Criminal Law, which states that anyone using a “cult” organization to undermine law enforcement must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Yu, however, also cited as legal basis Article 22 of the Criminal Law, which states that a suspect who merely prepares instruments or creates conditions for a crime may, when compared with one who actually completes the crime, be given a lighter punishment or even be exempted from punishment.

Ms. Pan’s lawyer refuted this, and said that no enacted law has ever criminalized Falun Gong or labeled it as a cult. Moreover, he said that Ms. Pan’s practice of Falun Gong did not harm anyone or society at large, much less undermine law enforcement. He concluded, therefore, that Article 300 of the Criminal Law did not apply to Ms. Pan’s case.

The lawyer said that Yu’s reference to Article 22 of the Criminal Law indicated that he had no evidence whatsoever to charge Ms. Pan with committing any crime under Article 300, so he resorted to the lesser offense in “preparation for a crime” mentioned in Article 22, which in theory precludes the use of Article 300 in the same case.

Such conflicting statements regarding applicable laws are likely a result of pressure from higher authorities to criminalize Falun Gong practitioners, who break no law by exercising their constitutional right to freedom of belief.

Yu recommended a heavy sentence of 3-7 years against Ms. Pan. 

Sentenced on August 18, 2023

Ms. Pan’s family learned in mid-November 2023 that she received her verdict on August 18, stating that she was sentenced to 3.5 years and fined 10,000 yuan. She submitted her appeal to the Changchun City Intermediate Court on August 25.

This is not the first time that Ms. Pan has been targeted for her faith. Both she and her husband, also a Falun Gong practitioner, were repeatedly arrested and harassed during the past 24 years of persecution. For about 4 or 5 years, the police withheld the couple’s IDs, causing them great difficulty in carrying out their day-to-day lives. They could not work out of town, take out a loan, or do many mundane things, all of which require an official ID in China.

Related report:

Ms. Pan Yanjun from Jilin Stands Trial for Practicing Falun Gong