Blind Woman Files Complaints Against Prosecutors and Judge for Wrongfully Indicting and Sentencing Her to 7 Years in Prison
(Minghui.org) A blind woman in Kunming City, Yunnan Province was indicted in late December 2022 and sentenced to seven years with a 20,000-yuan fine in February this year, for her faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Ms. Yang Xiaoming
Ms. Yang Xiaoming, 54, filed complaints in May 2023 against the two prosecutors and the presiding judge in her case for malicious prosecution of her.
Ms. Yang was arrested at home on May 28, 2022 and released on bail two days later after a local detention center declined to admit her due to her poor health. Prosecutors Zhang Jianwen and Ke Yuxin of the Xishan District Procuratorate indicted her in late December 2022. The police broke into her home on February 1, 2023 and took her straight to the Xishan District Court for a hearing.
Presiding judge Zhu Dandan delivered a guilty verdict to her home on March 14. Ms. Yang asked if she, a person blind in both eyes, could have any help writing up her appeal. Zhu didn’t answer the question or leave any contact information. She simply said, “If you object to the verdict, you can file an appeal within ten days [by March 23].”
Given her blindness, Ms. Yang wasn’t able to get her appeal written up until the final day of the appeals window, March 23. She then called a taxi to drive her to the Xishan District Court (in China, the appeals were filed with the trial courts, which then forward them to the higher courts). The taxi driver was very sympathetic of her and used his own phone to call judge Zhu. He was terrified after the phone conversation as Zhu threatened to put him in jail as well if he dared to help Ms. Yang. He turned around and drove her back home instead. As such, Ms. Yang was unable to file an appeal within the ten-day window for appeals.
Nonetheless, she still managed to let the Kunming City Intermediate Court know about her objection to the wrongful conviction.
Several people from the Kunming City Intermediate Court visited Ms. Yang in April 2023 and asked about her stance on her prison sentence. She said she objected to the wrongful conviction but missed the appeals window because the trial court refused to offer legal help to her, a disabled person. She urged the intermediate court to uphold justice for her. They didn’t say anything and left.
Officer Luo of the Zongshuying Police Station came to Ms. Yang’s home at around 5 p.m. on May 30 and verbally informed her that her bail had been lifted. He didn’t provide a written notice as required by law. Ms. Yang took it as a sign that the trial court may order that she be taken back into custody and put in jail at any time. It could also be retaliation against her for filing complaints.
Two days later, judge Zhu and clerk Yang Le from the Kunming City Intermediate Court, along with several officers from the Zongshuying Police Station, showed up at Ms. Yang’s home. They again asked if she had anything to say about her guilty verdict. She said she didn’t break any law by practicing Falun Gong and requested that her guilty verdict be overturned. She also demanded the return of her confiscated items during her arrest in 2022.
Yang said the intermediate court would not overturn the original verdict and asked if she had any savings or income. He hinted for her to pay her 20,000-yuan court fine. Ms. Yang said she had long been fired from her job because she upheld her faith. As for her savings, she would not use a penny of it to pay the illegal fine.
Complaint Against Two Prosecutors
Before her indictment and sentencing, Ms. Yang had filed multiple complaints against the arresting officers from the Zongshuying Police Station, who twice pried open her door to arrest her but never provided any compensation to her. Yet the Xishan District Procuratorate and the Xishan District Court turned a blind eye to the police’s violation of legal procedures.
After her sentencing and unsuccessful attempt to file an appeal, Ms. Yang filed two complaints, one against prosecutors Zhang and Ke, and the other judge Zhu, in May 2023.
In her complaint against the two prosecutors, Ms. Yang detailed how the police broke into her home on two occasions. She accused prosecutors Zhang and Ke of failing to investigate the violations of legal procedures on the part of the arresting officers and indicting her without any legal basis. She requested that the prosecutors be investigated for committing the crimes of “abusing power” and “bending the law for personal gain.”
Police Pry Open Door on May 28, 2022
Ms. Yang’s latest prison sentence stemmed from her arrest on May 28, 2022. An officer from the Zongshuying Police Station and a woman with an unknown identity knocked on her door at around 3 p.m. that day, claiming to be from property management to check whether her pipes were leaking.
She refused to open the door and multiple officers suddenly came out of nowhere. They pried open her door and broke in. They cuffed her hands behind her back. Without showing any ID or proper paperwork, they raided her place and confiscated her valuables and 16,000 yuan in cash.
At around 6 p.m., they took Ms. Yang to the Zongshuying Police Station. They did not give her any food or water that night. They also denied her use of the restroom. To prevent her from talking, they taped her mouth. She struggled to breathe and they then removed the tape. That whole night she was forced to sit in a metal chair with a male officer guarding her. He removed her from the chair the next morning but kept her hands cuffed behind her back.
Torture reenactment: metal chair
The next afternoon, the police told her that they were going to take her for a physical examination. She refused to go and was pushed to the ground from behind by the police. She hit her left eye on the ground, resulting in severe bleeding. The police then forcibly brought her to a hospital.
Several male officers held her on a bed, with a doctor opening her shirt and pants to examine her. The doctor glided a scanning device over her body up and down as the police watched. She felt extremely humiliated.
The exam results indicated that Ms. Yang was unfit for detention. The police refused to release her right away but kept at the police station for another night.
At around noon of the third day, the police put a black hood on her and shackled her feet. They also changed her handcuffs to a heavier set. They then drove her to the Kunming City Detention Center, which declined to admit her.
The police took her back to the police station and forced her to sit on the cold concrete floor. They kept her handcuffed and shackled the whole time. The handcuffs and shackles cut deep into her flesh, causing bleeding. Her wrists and ankles still have marks today.
At around 6 p.m. that day (May 30, 2022), the police finally removed her handcuffs and shackles and allowed her to stand up. They told her verbally that she was released on bail (with the 2,000-yuan bail bond deducted from the 16,000 cash confiscated from her). They then drove her home.
The police never returned the remaining money or other confiscated items (except her jewelries). They also never repaired her damaged door or provided any compensation. Even today, Ms. Yang has never received any written notice of her bail.
Police Pry Open Door on February 1, 2023
At around noon on February 1, 2023, several police officers from the Zongshuying Police Station knocked on Ms. Yang’s door. She refused to let them in and then heard loud pounding and drilling sounds. After prying open the door, the police barged in and ordered her to go to the Xishan District Court with them.
She refused and they carried her to their cruiser. Again, they never offered any compensation for her damaged door.
Ms. Yang file complaints against the police station with its supervising agency, the Xishan District Police Department. The police department ignored her and submitted her case to the Xishan District Procuratorate. Prosecutors Zhang and Ke also turned a blind eye to her complaints and indicted her for exercising her constitutional right to freedom of belief.
Complaints against Presiding Judge
In her complaint against judge Zhu, Ms. Yang accused her of failing to carefully review her case documents and investigate the wrongdoings on the part of the abovementioned police agencies and two prosecutors.
She emphasized that no enacted law in China criminalizes Falun Gong and that she should never have been prosecuted for exercising her constitutional right to freedom of belief.
Zhu also failed to offer needed help to her, a disabled person, as she struggled to write her appeals. She demanded that Zhu also be investigated for committing the crimes of “abusing power” and “bending the law for personal gain.”
Forced Abortion, Divorce, and Torture-induced Blindness
In both of her complaints, Ms. Yang also shared how Falun Gong cured her eye disease but she went blind after being tortured in custody for upholding her faith.
Ms. Yang suffered from eye disease since childhood. She had to quit school after finishing the sixth grade. In 1984, at the age of 15, she found a job at the Kunming Medical College and later took on a role in logistics management in 1993. Shortly after she took up Falun Gong at the end of 1995, her eye condition recovered.
After the persecution started, Qin Deyong, the Party secretary of the department she worked at, threatened to suspend her father’s pension and force her husband’s workplace to fire him, if she didn’t renounce her faith.
In January 2000, upon hearing that Ms. Yang was pregnant, Qin forced her husband to take her for an abortion. Her husband also divorced her a month later, in order not to be implicated.
For distributing informational materials about Falun Gong, Ms. Yang was arrested on December 29, 2001 and given two years at the Yunnan Province Women’s Forced Labor Camp. She was arrested again on February 1, 2005 and given another three years of forced labor. Due to a savage beating and other physical torture, her vision significantly declined and she became completely blind in 2012.
Related Reports:
Blinded from Torture, Yunnan Woman Sentenced to Seven Years for Her Faith
After Two Labor Camp Terms and Forced Abortion, Blind Woman Tried for Her Faith in Falun Gong