(Minghui.org) Three Baotou City, Inner Mongolia residents were sentenced to prison on December 21, 2023 for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Mr. Wang Ying and Mr. Zhang Ruitong were each given four years and two months, and fined 20,000 yuan. Ms. Meng Lili was sentenced to three years and three months, and fined 10,000 yuan. Their families are appealing the verdicts on their behalf.
Arrests
Mr. Wang and Ms. Meng went to visit Mr. Zhang on March 29, 2023. As soon as they arrived, officers from the Tiexi Police Station showed up and arrested them. The police revealed that they received a tip from the residential committee in Mr. Zhang’s neighborhood, which had been monitoring his daily activities.
The three practitioners were interrogated at the police station until the next morning. The police did not provide them with any food or water. Their homes were ransacked while they were held at the police station. The police searched Mr. Wang’s home twice, confiscating his Falun Gong books, laptop, printer and many informational materials about Falun Gong. All the items confiscated from the practitioners were later submitted as prosecution evidence to charge them with “undermining law enforcement with a cult organization,” the standard pretext used by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) to sentence Falun Gong practitioners.
Mr. Wang and Mr. Zhang were later taken to the Donghe District Detention Center. Ms. Meng was kept at the Guchengwan Detention Center. The Donghe District Police Department submitted their cases to the Donghe District Procuratorate on April 25. Prosecutor Guo Zhijun (+86-472-4619415) approved their arrests on April 28 and indicted them on September 28.
Mr. Wang’s family hired a lawyer for him in July 2023. When the lawyer called the Donghe District Detention Center to make appointments to visit Mr. Wang, he was repeatedly denied. He later went to the detention center to inquire about the situation and was told that the police didn’t allow him to meet with Mr. Wang, because his client still refused to plead guilty or sign a statement to renounce Falun Gong.
The lawyer filed a complaint with the procuratorate, which mediated the situation and instructed the detention center to approve the lawyer’s visitation request. Mr. Wang told the lawyer during the visit that because he didn’t plead guilty, the detention center guards prohibited him from buying daily necessities.
Sentenced to Prison After Four Hearings
The Donghe District Court held four hearings of the practitioners’ cases on November 17, 27 and 28, and December 14, 2023. The practitioners’ lawyers entered not guilty pleas for them and the practitioners also testified in their own defense. Prosecutor Guo recommended they be given heavy terms. Judge Zhi Fei (+86-472-4111884, +86-16647210391) announced the verdicts on December 21.
After months of detention, Ms. Meng’s vision began blurred and she also experiences tightness in her chest. Mr. Zhang, who was previously twice jailed for a total of 12 years on top of an unknown length of forced labor term, lost the ability to walk and had to use a wheelchair. His hair also turned gray. It’s not clear what torture he suffered in custody that caused his condition.
Mr. Wang’s latest arrest and sentencing came only three years after he finished serving a two-year term. His detention also prevented him from caring for his mother after the elderly woman in her 80s had a major surgery in April 2023.
Related reports:
Twice Jailed Man Faces Indictment Again for His Faith
Inner Mongolia Practitioners Mr. Wang Ying and Ms. Wang Hongling Sentenced to Prison
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