(Minghui.org) A 60-year-old woman in Pingdu City, Shandong Province, was sentenced to one and a half years with a 5,000-yuan fine for her faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Ms. Jiang Caifeng’s family found out about her conviction in late April 2024, but they only knew that she was sentenced by the Pingdu City Court, nothing about when exactly she was indicted, tried, or sentenced.
Ms. Jiang’s sentencing was preceded by two arrests in four months in 2023.
Ms. Jiang was first arrested on July 3, 2023, while hosting a group of local Falun Gong practitioners at her home. According to the police, they had been staking out her home for three weeks in order to catch one of her guests, Mr. Hao Jingming.
Mr. Hao, 58, is a former director of the Baishiyi Air Force Meteorological Observatory in Chongqing. He was a senior colonel with the deputy regiment rank of the main battalion. He was sentenced to seven and a half years following an arrest in March 2011 for talking to people about Falun Gong. He moved to Shandong Province after he was released.
Ms. Jiang was taken to the Pingdu City Police Department Criminal Investigation Team and then to the Malan Town Police Station. She was transferred to the Qingdao City Second Detention Center on July 5. Her lawyer visited her on July 14, and she was released on August 4, 2023. It was unclear whether she was cleared of prosecution at the time or released on bail.
When Ms. Jiang went to a local fair on November 4, 2023, a plainclothes officer followed her and took pictures of her. On her way home, she was seized at the entrance to her village, by officers from the Malan Town Police Station. Her husband later saw her electric bike on the roadside as he was returning home.
The police took Ms. Jiang to the Qingdao City Second Detention Center.
Two people from the Pingdu City Procuratorate deposed Ms. Jiang at the detention center on November 13, 2023, and said they were grouping her two arrests into one case to be prosecuted.
The Pingdu City Court sentenced Ms. Jiang at an unknown time. Prior to that, her guest Mr. Hao was sentenced to seven years and eight months with a 30,000-yuan fine.
Shandong Woman Detained for Three Weeks and Counting for Her Faith in Falun Gong
Two Shandong Men Wrongly Convicted for Practicing Falun Gong, Including a Former Air Force Director
Former Air Force Meteorological Observatory Director Arrested for Practicing Falun Gong