(Minghui.org) A 72-year-old retired teacher in Sanhe City, Hebei Province, was sentenced to three years and four months in October 2023 for hanging a banner celebrating World Falun Dafa Day.
Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong, is an ancient spiritual discipline that was introduced to the public on May 13, 1992. Since 2000, practitioners worldwide have celebrated this day as “World Falun Dafa Day” to express their gratitude for the benefits they owe to the practice.
Due to Falun Gong’s huge popularity, the Chinese Communist Party began to persecute it in July 1999. The persecution continues to this day, and practitioners inside China can’t freely celebrate this special occasion. Instead, many hang up banners and distribute informational materials as their way to celebrate and raise awareness of the persecution.
After Ms. Sui Lixian was arrested on May 14, 2023, her family was never given any official updates on the status of her case. They only learned the following recently from an insider: Ms. Sui’s arrest was formally approved less than two weeks after she was seized from home. Her case was submitted to the Sanhe City Procuratorate in late July 2023 and forwarded to the Sanhe City Court two months later. The court sentenced her in October 2023 without notifying her family of her trial. She has been admitted to prison, but it is unclear which one. Her loved one guessed it might be the Hebei Province Women’s Prison since many female Falun Gong practitioners in the province have been sent there to serve time.
Details of Arrest
When Pan Jiqiang (cell: +86-13903100180; badge number 078899), the 51-year-old chief of Sanhe City Police Department, visited Yanjiao Town around May 10, 2023, he saw a banner that read “Celebrate World Falun Dafa Day on May 13.” He ordered Dongcheng Police Station in Yanjiao Town to arrest whoever hung the banner and swiftly prosecute the “offender.” The police station poured over the surveillance videos and determined that Ms. Sui was responsible.
The police staked themselves outside Ms. Sui’s apartment building on May 13 and videotaped her entering and exiting the building in order to confirm that she was the same person recorded in the video.
The next day at around 5 p.m., Li Wei from the Sanhe City Domestic Security Office, Cui Xiaoping, and several other officers from Dongcheng Police Station knocked on Ms. Sui’s door, claiming to be there to conduct a census.
Ms. Sui believed them and opened up. As soon as they rushed in, they showed her a photo on a cell phone and asked her if she had hung the banner in the photo. They also played the video they took of her entering and leaving her apartment building and asked her to confirm it was her. She didn’t reply.
The police arrested her and two other Falun Gong practitioners who happened to be visiting her. After taking the trio to the Dongcheng Police Station, they returned to raid Ms. Sui’s home again, confiscating her computer, printer, Falun Gong books, and informational materials.
The three practitioners were interrogated multiple times later that day, but they refused to answer any questions.
Ms. Sui’s two guests were released the next day, but she was transferred to the Sanhe City Detention Center.
Ms. Sui is a native of Heilongjiang Province and has been living in Sanhe for more than a decade. She was previously arrested in 2013 while reading Falun Gong books with a few other practitioners and was held at the Langfang Brainwashing Center.
Related Report:
Retired Teacher Arrested for Hanging a Banner Celebrating World Falun Dafa Day
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