(Minghui.org) A woman in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, has been denied family visits since she was admitted to the Liaoning Province Second Women’s Prison in May 2023 to serve a six-year prison term for her faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Li Honghong, 54, was sentenced in January 2023 and soon saw her appeal rejected.
The police arrested Ms. Li at her small bedding shop on January 23, 2022, after a customer reported her for giving him a calendar bearing information about Falun Gong on October 29, 2021. Both her shop and home were raided on the day of her arrest.
After being held at the local police station for 14 days, Ms. Li was transferred to the Shenyang City No. 1 Detention Center on February 8, 2022. The police submitted her case to the Liaozhong District Procuratorate in late February. The prosecutor indicted her in June and forwarded her case to the Liaozhong District Court.
The judge held a virtual hearing of Ms. Li’s case on November 24, 2022, with her joining from the detention center. Her family wasn’t allowed to attend the session at either the courthouse or the detention center.
According to an insider present at the hearing, Ms. Li looked emaciated, her hair turned gray, and she complained about symptoms of high blood pressure. The detention of her, the sole breadwinner in her family, caused tremendous financial distress to her loved ones. Her ailing husband was also left at home to fend for himself.
The court appointed a lawyer to represent Ms. Li and instructed the lawyer to enter a guilty plea for her. Ms. Li testified in her own defense and insisted that she didn’t violate any laws by practicing Falun Gong or spreading information about it.
The court-appointed lawyer notified Ms. Li’s family in early January 2023 that she had been sentenced to six years and fined 20,000 yuan.
Ms. Li filed an appeal with the Shenyang City Intermediate Court, which soon ruled to uphold her original verdict. She was transferred to the Liaoning Province Second Women’s Prison in May 2023, and her family hasn’t been allowed to visit her since.
Related Report:
Small Business Owner Gets Six-Year Prison Term for Giving Falun Gong Calendar to a Customer
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