(Minghui.org) The Guiyang City Intermediate Court in Guizhou Province ruled recently to uphold the wrongful conviction of a local woman for her faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Ms. Zhang Juhong, 54, was arrested on April 25, 2022. She was sentenced to 7.5 years and fined 30,000 yuan on December 10, 2023, but her lawyer was not notified of the verdict until February 2024. He shared the news with her family, who entrusted him to represent her in her appeal.
Ms. Zhang and her lawyer requested an open hearing and demanded an overturn of her wrongful conviction. The Guiyang City Intermediate Court ruled in either March or April 2024 to uphold the original verdict without holding a hearing. It also ordered that Ms. Zhang be transferred from the Sanjiang Detention Center to a prison soon (exact timeline unknown).
This is not the first time that Ms. Zhang has been sentenced for her faith. She previously served 4.5 years in prison and was released in July 2020, 21 months before her latest arrest.
Latest Arrest and Sentencing
Ms. Zhang was arrested at home around 9 a.m. April 25, 2022, by officers from Sanjiang Police Station and Xiaohe District Police Department. They handcuffed her, seized the property, and put up police seals on every door. When the police finally left at 11 p.m., they took Ms. Zhang to Xiaohe District Police Department for interrogation.
Ms. Zhang was taken to a quarantine location two days later on April 27, and transferred to the Guiyang Fourth Detention Center on May 17, 2022 under criminal detention. During that time, her family hired a lawyer at her request.
After the police submitted her case to the Nanming District Procuratorate, the case was rejected three times, citing insufficient evidence. The prosecutor still indicted her eventually and moved her case to the Nanming District Court. Her family didn’t attend the first hearing (date unknown), as they only received an unclear text message from the court. Her lawyer attended the session and entered a not-guilty plea for her.
Ms. Zhang was accused of “openly spreading Falun Gong” by putting up the word “fu” (luck) on her window. The Falun Gong-related materials confiscated from her place were also used as prosecution evidence against her.
Her lawyer argued that the prosecutor failed to justify the connection between the character on her window and her “promoting Falun Gong.” Even if she did put up Falun Gong material on her window, she didn’t violate any law in doing so.
The police also accused Ms. Zhang of giving someone a wall calendar with Falun Gong messages, but the calendar presented by that person in court was not the one Ms. Zhang had handed out. Despite the unclear evidence, the prosecutor proposed a prison term of 5.5 years.
The lawyer pointed out that there was a conflict of interest for the police to “authenticate” Falun Gong materials confiscated from his client as “cult propaganda.” By law, only an independent, third-party forensic agency can examine and verify prosecution evidence. As such, the evidence “authenticated” by the police should be rendered invalid.
The judge held another hearing of Ms. Zhang’s case in late November 2023. Only one family member attended the session. Her lawyer again demanded her acquittal.
Ms. Zhang’s family heard from her lawyer in February 2024 that she had been sentenced to 7.5 years with a fine of 30,000 yuan. So far the family has not received a hard copy of her verdict, but only read the electronic version dated December 10, 2023, received by the lawyer. The verdict did not mention the hearing time or the location.
Related Reports:
Guizhou Woman Sentenced to 7.5 Years for Putting up New Year Decoration on Her Window
Police, Procuratorate, and Court Violate Legal Procedures to Convict Falun Gong Practitioner
Practitioner Held at Brainwashing Center for 81 Days Before Approval of Arrest
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