(Minghui.org) Five residents of Zhucheng City, Shandong Province, were sentenced to prison on April 14, 2023, for their faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999. All of their appeals were turned down on June 25.
Ms. Sun Peiying, 54; Ms. Chi Guilan, 74; Ms. Chen Xiulan, 59; Ms. Ma Shuyan, 61; and Mr. Liu Zhaoqing, 63, were arrested at around 7 a.m. on June 29, 2021. Their homes were raided at around 3 p.m. in the afternoon.
They were held in the Zhucheng City Domestic Security Office and interrogated. Three days later, the police first took them to the Minsheng Hospital for COVID-19 tests and then to the Xinghua Road Police Station for another interrogation session.
The practitioners were taken to a community hospital for health exams the following morning before being driven to the Changyi City Lockup in the afternoon. Ms. Sun and Mr. Liu were admitted, but the other three were denied admission because they failed the required physical exam.
Ms. Ma, Ms. Chen, and Ms. Chi were taken back to Zhucheng and released on 10,000-yuan bail at around 6 p.m. on July 2, 2021.
The Zhucheng City Domestic Security Office submitted the five practitioners’ cases to the Zhucheng City Procuratorate, which returned the cases to the police citing insufficient evidence.
In China, usually the jurisdiction where a suspected crime takes place should handle the case, but occasionally a different jurisdiction may be allowed to take over. Given this, the Zhucheng police submitted the practitioners’ cases to the Gaomi City Procuratorate (Gaomi City is about 50 miles from Zhucheng and both are under the jurisdiction of Weifang), which proceeded to indict the practitioners.
The Gaomi City Court initially set a court date for September 28, 2022, but postponed it until March 24, 2023. Judge Shan Baojun presided over the hearing. Prosecutors Pan Honghui and Yao Minmin and their assistant Xu Wenbin were present.
The five practitioners and their family defenders refuted the allegations against them, namely, “using a cult organization to undermine law enforcement,” the standard pretext used by the communist regime to frame and imprison Falun Gong practitioners.
Judge Shan allowed the five practitioners to go home after the hearing. He convicted them on April 14, 2023. Ms. Sun and Ms. Chi were each sentenced to 1.5 years and fined 4000 yuan. Mr. Liu and Ms. Chen were each given one year and two months with a 3,000-yuan fine. Ms. Ma was sentenced to one-year probation and fined 2,000 yuan.
All five filed appeals. The Weifang City Intermediate Court ruled on June 25, 2023 to uphold the original verdicts.
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