(Minghui.org) Ms. Li Fen’s family was informed on July 1, 2024 that she has been sentenced to 3.5 years and fined 30,000 yuan for her faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999. The 57-year-old resident of a Dalian City, Liaoning Province, is now appealing the verdict.

Officers of the Zuanshiwan Police Station ordered Ms. Li’s neighbors to knock on her door around 7 p.m. on April 18, 2023. When Ms. Li opened the door, two plainclothes officers appeared. As soon as the officers produced a search warrant, seven other officers who had been hiding in the elevator stormed into Ms. Li’s home.

One officer played surveillance videos to Ms. Li’s husband and daughter that they claimed showed her distributing Falun Gong materials. The police also said someone also reported her distributing materials and submitted videos recorded by his peephole camera. The police confiscated Ms. Li’s printer, computer, Falun Gong books and a portrait of Falun Gong’s founder. They also searched her closet and found the clothes she was wearing while distributing materials as prosecution evidence against her.

The police held Ms. Li at the Zuanshiwan Police Station for two days and then took her to the Dalian City Second Lockup for a 15-day administrative detention.

The deputy director of Zuanshiwan Police Station, Wang, called Ms. Li on November 15, 2023, asking her to come to his office to pick up her ID and other confiscated items. Wang said she must pick up the items herself and sign the paperwork; and if she didn’t come, they would raid her home again.

Accompanied by her husband and daughter, Ms. Li went to the police station. The police took her inside, while keeping her husband and daughter waiting in the lobby. About 20 minutes later, two officers came out with Ms. Li and said they would hand her off to the Ganjingzi District Police Department and file a criminal case against her.

During the required physical examination, Ms. Li was found to have extremely high blood pressure (220/100mmHg) and other health conditions. The police, however, still forced the Dalian City Detention Center to admit her. The guards kept her in the medical room and didn’t assign her to the regular cell.

The Ganjingzi District Court held a virtual hearing of Ms. Li’s case on April 25, 2024. She attended the session at the detention center. The hearing was scheduled to start at 9:30 a.m., but the presiding judge, Gao Yang, didn’t start it until 11:45 a.m. and he adjourned the session after only ten minutes. Prosecutor Tang Ming of the Ganjingzi District Procuratorate also attended the hearing.

Ms. Li’s family was notified of her verdict on July 1 but was not told when exactly judge Gao issued the ruling. The family soon helped Ms. Li file an appeal. It’s not clear whether Ms. Li has been transferred to prison at the time of writing.