(Minghui.org) Ms. Li Junlan from Liuhe County, Jilin Province, stood trial on December 6, 2024, for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Ms. Li refused to use the court-appointed lawyer, who was instructed to enter a guilty plea for her. The prosecutor accused her of breaking the law by distributing decorations which had the words: “Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance [Falun Gong’s core principles] imprinted on them.” Ms. Li said that no law in China criminalizes Falun Gong and that it was her constitutional right to practice and tell people about Falun Gong.
The presiding judge adjourned the hearing and said he would later issue a ruling.
Ms. Li’s trial stemmed from her arrest on September 27, 2023, by officers from the Liuhe County Police Department. They gave her 14 days of detention at the Changliu Detention Center in Tonghua City, which oversees Liuhe County. She was released on bail on October 10, 2023.
An officer called Ms. Li on August 3, 2024 and asked her to pick up her computer that was confiscated during the 2023 arrest. Her daughter accompanied her to the Qianjin Police Station. The police ordered the younger woman to leave first and promised to let her mother go home as soon as she signed some paperwork. This was a lie and Ms. Li didn’t return home that day. Her father went to the police station on August 23, 2024 to seek her release, but the police said her case was no longer with them as they submitted it to the Liuhe County Procuratorate.
The police next notified Ms. Li’s husband on the phone that she was in criminal detention at the Changliu Detention Center. No other updates were given until a few days before her court date, when the family were told about Ms. Li’s upcoming trial. It was too late to hire a lawyer for her at that time. She testified in her own defense at the Liuhe County Court on December 6, 2024.
This is not the first time Ms. Li has been targeted for her faith. She was previously arrested on September 24, 2015, for filing a criminal complaint against former Chinese dictator Jiang Zemin, who ordered the persecution of Falun Gong. Her daughter was still in elementary school at the time and her husband struggled to care for the child by himself.
Ms. Li’s next arrest was on October 28, 2016, and she was released on bail on November 8 that year.
The police harassed Ms. Li at home around May 2017. She went to the local police department to apply for a passport on March 22, 2018 and was rejected. She returned home, only to be arrested that afternoon. Three officers, including Gao Yuwen, raided her home without a search warrant. Her father and daughter sought her release and she was freed that night.
Ms. Li was arrested on July 28, 2020 and her home was raided hours later. She was released on bail on September 4. Captain Jiang Hui of the Liuhe County Domestic Security Division called Ms. Li on the morning of October 27 and ordered her to report to them. She went and was interrogated by Jiang and another officer. They asked where she worked and she refused to answer. They then filled out some forms online and ordered her to sign. She again said no and was allowed to go home later that day.
An officer called her on November 17 and asked if she would sign statements renouncing Falun Gong. She refused. The police harassed her again on December 25, 2020, and May 8, 2021. They even harassed her mother around June 10, 2021 and asked about her whereabouts.
The police arrested Ms. Li on December 22, 2021 and detained her for 15 days. She returned home on January 7, 2022.
The relentless persecution deeply traumatized her daughter, who was hospitalized as a result. Ms. Li and her husband struggled to pay their daughter’s medical bills and borrowed a lot of money. After the girl was discharged, she had to move in with a relative while her parents did odd jobs to support their family.
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