(Minghui.org) A resident of Longjiang County, Heilongjiang Province, was recently sentenced to five years for her faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
The Longjiang County Court didn’t give Ms. Jiang Chunmei a written copy of the verdict as required by law, and she suspected that the court may have wanted to prevent her from filing an appeal. She, however, was determined to seek justice for herself and entrusted her lawyer to prepare her appeals paperwork when he visited her at the local detention center.
Ms. Jiang, a former lecturer at the Foreign Language Department of Mudanjiang City Normal College, Heilongjiang Province, moved in with her parents in Longjiang County in 2018 to care for them, after serving a 14-year prison sentence (October 2003 – October 2017) for practicing Falun Gong. Her husband and older son had both lost their lives to the persecution in 2009, while she was still in prison.
Latest Arrest and Sentencing
Ms. Jiang was arrested at home on December 18, 2022, by a group of officers led by deputy chief Liu Liting of the Longjiang County Police Department and captain Li Guofeng of the Longjiang County Domestic Security Office. They ransacked her home and took away a laptop, three cellphones, a tablet, a printer, Falun Gong books, and 550 yuan in cash. She refused to sign any of the documents given to her by the police.
The police forced Ms. Jiang to stand beside her bike and attempted to take her photo as evidence against her. She refused to comply and was forcibly carried into the police car while blindfolded. An officer punched her in the nose and chest. For the purpose of processing her criminal detention, the police forced her to do a physical exam and take a COVID-19 vaccine. She went on a hunger strike and was released on bail three days later.
The police indicated during Ms. Jiang’s arrest that they were seeking prosecution of her for her earlier arrest on March 27, 2020 for distributing Falun Gong informational materials. Back then, the police took away her house keys and ransacked her home. To avoid the persecution, Ms. Jiang lived away from home to hide from the police, only to be arrested again two years later.
The Longhua Police Station in Longjiang County took Ms. Jiang back into custody in early February 2023 and submitted her case to the Longjiang County Procuratorate. The Longjiang County Court held a hearing of her case on May 24 and sentenced her to five years in early July.
Past Persecution – 14-Year Sentence and Deaths of Husband and Son
Ms. Jiang and her husband, Mr. Jin Youfeng (also a Falun Gong practitioner), were arrested on July 20, 1999 and detained for several days. When they refused to renounce their faith, the police transferred them to Mudanjiang Detention Center before the Mid-Autumn Festival on September 24. They were detained there for 15 days.
Ms. Jiang was arrested again in March 2000 and placed on administrative detention for 15 days.
On June 22, 2000, Ms. Jiang was arrested and taken to the local detention center. She was placed on criminal detention and released three months later. At that time, her husband was in a labor camp, leaving their 7-year-old son, Jin Luyi, alone at home.
Ms. Jiang and another practitioner were arrested in November 2001. Their cash and phones worth thousands of yuan were confiscated. The police refused to return their cash and phones when releasing them.
Ms. Jiang and her husband were arrested on October 22, 2003. Mr. Jin was sentenced to 13 years in Mudanjiang Prison; Ms. Jiang was given 14 years in Heilongjiang Women’s Prison. At that time, their second son, Jin Panpan, was only 15 months old and still breastfeeding.
Mr. Jin was tortured brutally in the prison. He was beaten, hung up, locked in solitary confinement, exposed to the freezing weather, starved, force-fed, and shocked with electric batons on his private parts. He later suffered from severe tuberculosis but was only released on medical parole ten months later in June 2008.
The couple’s older son was in his 20's when Mr. Jin was released. Despite knowing that tuberculosis is highly contagious, he took care of his father day and night. Shortly after Mr. Jin passed away on January 21, 2009, his son also lost his life to the infection. He was only 23.
Ms. Jiang was fired from her job after she was released. She moved to Longjiang County in Qiqihar City in 2018 to care for her parents and did part time jobs to make a living.
Related Reports:
Jin Youfeng, a Teacher at Mudanjiang Normal College, Is Tortured in Mudanjiang Prison (Photo)
Physical Education Teacher Mr. Jin Youfeng Dies after Five Years of Imprisonment (Photo)
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