(Minghui.org) A 59-year-old woman in Zhaoyuan City, Shandong Province, was sentenced to two years with a 5,000-yuan fine on August 3, 2023, for her faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Ms. Yang Zuojuan was arrested on May 19, 2022, after being reported for distributing informational materials about Falun Gong about a month ago. She was released on bail later that afternoon. The Zhaoyuan City Procuratorate indicted her after deposing her on March 23, 2023. The Zhouyuan City Court held a hearing of her case on June 13 and the presiding judge didn’t allow her to testify in her own defense.
Ms. Yang was taken back into custody right after the court hearing but was released again on June 20 because she failed the physical examination required for admission to the detention center. It is unclear when she’d be admitted to prison following her conviction in early August.
Arrest
Ms. Yang and her husband, Mr. Lu Lunwen, were about to go out at around 9 a.m. on May 19, 2022, when they were blocked at their garage by four officers from Zhaoyuan City Domestic Security Office. The police revealed that Ms. Yang was reported by a local resident for distributing informational materials about Falun Gong in his apartment building. The resident provided surveillance video to the police, which led to the couple’s arrests.
The police searched the couple’s car, garage, and home. They confiscated the couple’s computers, cell phones, and other valuables before taking them away. The couple was released on bail at around 5 p.m. that day.
Sun Zhaopeng and three other officers from Zhaoyuan City Domestic Security Office deceived the couple into going to their office in March 2023, by claiming that they needed them there to sign some paperwork to end their bail.
The couple went but were not given back the 2,000-yuan bail bond the police had promised to return to them. They signed the paperwork, only to have officer Sun submit their case to the Zhaoyuan City Procuratorate.
The procuratorate summoned the couple days later, on March 23, but they refused to comply with the demand.
The procuratorate transferred the couple’s case to Kaifa District Police Station on March 28 without giving them any paperwork as required by law. The police station gave the couple another one-year bail and ordered them to report to them once every month.
Prosecutors Liu Yanxia and Jiang Xiuping forwarded Ms. Yang’s case to the Zhaoyuan City Court. She received a notice from the court on May 10 saying that her court date was set for June 13. The notice also included a copy of her indictment.
Mr. Lu’s case status isn’t clear at the time of writing.
Court Hearing
Per the Criminal Procedure Law in China, a court hearing should begin with the presiding judge announcing the opening of the trial, followed by the presentation of the court’s investigation of evidence for and against the defendant, the prosecution and the defense attorneys debating the case, and the defendant making a closing statement.
During Ms. Yang’s hearing at Zhaoyuan City Court on June 13, 2023, presiding judge Yang Yunjian only announced the opening of the trial and had the prosecutors read out aloud the prosecution evidence against Ms. Yang (without presenting the actual evidence). There was no presentation of the court’s investigation of evidence. No witnesses were present either.
When Ms. Yang tried to testify in her own defense, the judge said he was unable to remember what she said and ordered her to stop. He then rephrased the few things she had said and asked the clerk to record his words in the court proceedings. As it was not her original defense argument, Ms. Yang protested against the judge for violating legal procedures.
The judge soon adjourned the session without allowing Ms. Yang to make a closing statement. He ordered to keep Ms. Yang in custody, but the local detention center refused to admit her due to her poor health. She was released on June 20.
Past Persecution
Ms. Yang almost had a mental breakdown after her first marriage failed more than two decades ago. After she took up Falun Gong in 1996, she came to understand that there must be a reason for her divorce. She no longer felt bitter and sad. She became upbeat and later married her current husband, also a Falun Gong practitioner.
After the persecution of Falun Gong began in 1999, Ms. Yang was repeatedly targeted for upholding her faith.
She was arrested in Tiananmen Square in Beijing on February 17, 2000 (the 13th day of the lunar Chinese New Year) and taken back to Zhaoyuan City two days later. She was held at Xinzhuang Police Station, where the police handcuffed her to a pole and tortured her. She and a few other arrested practitioners were also paraded on the street. She wasn’t released until 102 days later.
While she was in detention, Ms. Yang’s mother’s home was raided while their loved ones gathered there for the Chinese New Year celebration.
Ms. Yang went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong again in late 2000 and was arrested. She was taken back to Zhaoyuan and held at Bianfang Police Station. She and three other practitioners were kept in a small room there (1 meter wide and 1 meter long) before being taken to Zhaoyuan City Detention Center a few days later. Because Ms. Yang refused to renounce her faith, she was handcuffed and shackled. She was also force-fed. She was released from the detention center 30 days later.
Ms. Yang’s home was raided in February 2001. She was held for a total of 64 days at the Linglong Brainwashing Center and Zhaoyuan City Detention Center.
Ms. Yang worked at a chicken slaughterhouse in 2008. The police raided her dorm and took her to Bianfang Police Station. They tortured her in an attempt to make her rat out other practitioners.
Ms. Yang and her husband were arrested at Jinan Railway Station in November 2014 as they were going on a trip. The police searched them, interrogated them with torture, and raided their home.
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