(Minghui.org) Ms. Wei Xiuying,77, from Jinzhou City, Liaoning Province, faced multiple attempts to take her back into custody after she lost an appeal against a five-year prison sentence for practicing Falun Gong on April 19, 2023.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Wei was arrested on May 25, 2021 and was released on bail after she was found to have poor health. She was sentenced to five years and fined 10,000 yuan on February 24, 2023. She lost her appeal two months later. Since then, the authorities repeatedly attempted to take her back into custody, including the latest episode on September 20, 2024.
Prior to her latest wrongful conviction, Ms. Wei was repeatedly arrested and sentenced to seven years in prison. She was released two years earlier after being tortured to the brink of death. Traumatized by the police humiliation in custody in 2009, Ms. Wei’s then 20-year-old younger daughter suffered a mental breakdown and still needs constant care.
In 2016, two years after Ms. Wei was released from prison, the local social security bureau suspended her pension. She filed a lawsuit and won, but the judge chose not to enforce the ruling when the social security bureau refused to reinstate her pension. The social security bureau even garnished from her pension card the heating subsidy her former employer gave retired workers.
Ms. Wei was arrested on May 25, 2021 and soon released on bail after she was found to be unfit for detention. Prosecutor Li Feng of the Linghai City Procuratorate and judge Huang Yanchun of the Linghai City Court, as well as ten other people, came to her home on February 10, 2023. They claimed to be there to “verify certain information regarding her case.” However, they only read some prepared documents and left without having her read the documents herself or having her sign anything.
Judge Huang announced on February 24, 2023 that Ms. Wei was sentenced to five years and fined 10,000-yuan. She filed an appeal but the Jinzhou City Intermediate Court ruled against her on April 19, 2023.
Around 10:30 a.m. on November 22, 2023, about seven officers from the Linghai City Police Department came to Ms. Wei’s home with an ambulance. When her older daughter Min (alias), who happened to be visiting, tried to reason with the police, they grabbed her hair and slammed her head against the wall. They threatened Min, “You want to sue us? We dare you to sue us! Don’t think we’ll go easy on you just because your younger sister has a mental illness.”
The police confiscated Ms. Wei’s Falun Gong books before taking her for a physical examination. Her family was not allowed to go with them. The police sent her back around 6 p.m., barefoot and without her jacket. They told her family that she had six health indicators that were severely abnormal, including a systolic blood pressure reading of 230 mmHg (when a normal range is 120 or lower).
Prosecutor Li and secretary Chai Jin of the local community showed up on August 20, 2024. Ms. Wei was not in. Only her husband and their mentally ill daughter were home. Her husband was forced to sign three pieces of paper. Judge Huang later called Ms. Wei’s son-in-law and accused her of faking being sick.
Under the directive of Huang, one man and seven women came to Ms. Wei’s home after 8 a.m. on September 20, 2024. They told her they would return in three days to take her for a physical examination, at her own expense, so they could determine whether she qualified for medical parole. Her husband was ordered to accompany his wife for the checkup. He said he had to stay home to care for his mentally ill daughter and was not be able to leave home. They told him to find a solution himself and gave him a phone number (+86-416-8152019) to call. It is unclear whether they returned on September 23.
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