(Minghui.org) Six residents of Linghai City, Jinzhou City, Liaoning Province, were sentenced to prison on December 30, 2024, for their shared faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Mr. Wang Guiling, 69, was sentenced to five years with a 7,000-yuan fine. Ms. Meng Chunying, 53, and Ms. Liu Yurong, 63, were both sentenced to four and a half years with a 6,000-yuan fine. Ms. Liu Jingju, around 70, and Ms. Jing Suming, 74, were each given two years and fined 4,000 yuan. Mr. Wang Zhoushan, 53, received one and a half years with a 3,000-yuan fine.
Mr. Wang Guiling, Ms. Meng and Ms. Liu Yurong have appealed the verdicts.
The six practitioners were all arrested on April 14, 2024. The police had monitored them for months before arresting them. They followed the practitioners on foot and installed surveillance cameras near their homes, in some cases, placing tracking devices on their electric bikes. The police also twen to Dalian City in the same province to interrogate Ms. Liu Yurong’s landlord, who was terrified and accused Ms. Liu of implicating him.
Except Ms. Jing who was released on bail due to her severe heart disease, the other five practitioners were held at the Jinzhou City Detention Center. The six others were issued formal arrest warrants on May 13 and later indicted by the Linghai City Procuratorate, which, along with Linghai City Court, handle all the Falun Gong cases in the greater Jinzhou area.
The six practitioners were tried in the Linghai City Court on November 20, 2024. Ms. Jing remained fragile from her heart conditions and walked into the courtroom with the help of two relatives. Judge Cheng Cheng had her sit in a chair during the hearing and did not ask her any questions. She did not say a word either.
The other five were all handcuffed and appeared emaciated and haggard. Ms. Liu Yurong had difficulty walking and two bailiffs had to help her. Three lawyers represented them and enter not guilty pleas on their behalf .
Ms. Liu Jingju said that both she and Ms. Jing had been living on their own after their husbands passed away many years ago. But because of their similar experiences and contact with each other, the police accused them of “committing a joint crime.” [According to Article 25 of China’s Criminal Law, a joint crime is an intentional crime committed by two or more people jointly. Ms. Liu and Ms. Jing never had any intent to commit any crimes in the first place.]
Judge Cheng convicted all six practitioners weeks after the hearing.
Persecution by the Taihe District Domestic Security Division
The Taihe District Domestic Security Division, which was responsible for arresting the six practitioners, have been actively participated in the persecution since 1999, especially under the current directors Li Lei and Liu Changjie.
They often follow and monitor local practitioners’ daily lives before arresting them. Sometimes they pretended to be interested in learning Falun Gong and asked for materials from the practitioners. The materials would then be used as prosecution evidence. In addition to arresting the practitioners and submitting their cases to the procuratorates, the police also intentionally created conflicts between the practitioners and their family members or used deceit and threats to try to make the practitioners submit.
In November 2022, the Taihe District Domestic Security Division arrested a group of practitioners, mostly elderly women in their 70s and 80s. They accused them of committing serious crimes and threatened them with heavy prison sentences. Some practitioners’ family members were terrified and forced their loved ones to renounce Falun Gong. Ms. Liu (no relation to the aforementioned two Ms. Liu), in her 80s, had enjoyed good health and lived on her own, thanks to her practicing Falun Gong. Yet out of fear for her children and grandchildren’s job security, she was forced to sign a statement against her will and pay s fine.
That same month, the Taihe District Domestic Security Division arrested another practitioner, Ms. Jin. They threatened her with a heavy term if she didn’t provide information about other practitioners. They also deceived her son, telling him, “Other practitioners ratted out your mother, but she still tried to protect them.” Such tactics made her son resentful of other practitioners.
The police then found another practitioner, Ms. Li, who was struggling with a severe physical condition. They said to Ms. Li, who didn’t know Ms. Jin before, “Jin will definitely get a heavy term this time. It’s not easy for her to raise her child by herself with her parents in her 90s also needing her care. Don’t you pity her? Why don’t you help her out?” Ms. Li fell for the trick and signed the document the police had prepared. But Ms. Jin was still sentenced to three years and fined. Feeling guilty about what she had done, Ms. Li’s condition quickly deteriorated and she passed away not long afterwards. She was 67.
Sentencing by the Linghai City Procuratorate and Linghai City Court
In addition to the Taihe District Domestic Security Division, the Linghai City Procuratorate and Linghai City Court have also been heavily involved in persecuting practitioners. At least 48 of them in Jinzhou and its subordinate cities/counties were sentenced between 2022-2023 and another 24 (including the six sentenced practitioners mentioned earlier) were sentenced in 2024 alone. Most of the practitioners were indicted by prosecutor Li Feng and sentenced by judge Huang Yanchun.
Ms. Liu Yurong, who was handed her third prison sentence in December 2024, was indicted by prosecutor Li every time.
Xu Bing, a former judge with the Linghai City Court, once said to a practitioner’s family member that he didn’t have the say in the practitioners’ prison sentences, that it was determined by the Jinzhou City Political and Legal Affairs Committee.
Practitioners’ Past Persecution
Like Ms. Liu Yurong, most of the practitioners who were sentenced this time have been targeted for their faith before.
Ms. Liu, a former middle school teacher, was sentenced to six years in 2008 and one year in 2021. Her mother, in her 80s, was devastated and passed away in April 2010. After Ms. Liu was released, her decades of employment were wiped out from her pension calculation formula and she was stripped of any retirement benefits. Despite the side effects from the stroke she suffered during her first prison term, she had to do odd jobs to make a living. Her health continued to decline during her second prison term and her legs constantly feel numb and weak.
Ms. Meng was given a one-year labor camp term in 2008. She was forced to do unpaid labor for long hours, including using toxic glue to make plastic flowers and brown paper bags without any protection. She was also forced to watch videos that slandered Falun Gong and pressured to renounce her faith. The guards barred her from calling her family or purchasing daily necessities. Her husband divorced her during that time and was given custody of their teenage child.
Mr. Wang Guiling, a former employee of the Beishan Construction Company, served four forced labor camp terms and a prison term of five years. He was subjected to many forms of torture, including electric shocks, sleep deprivation, force feeding, and involuntary drug administration.
Mr. Wang Zhoushan was arrested three times for going to Beijing to appeal and given two years of forced labor in the early years of the persecution. After he was released, he faced constant harassment and was forced to live away from home to hide from the police. His employer, the Jinzhou Petroleum Company Research Institute, fired him. He was later arrested again and given another three-year labor camp term. He was once deprived of sleep for 19 days and injected with toxic drugs. The police refused to issue him an ID after he was released so that he was unable to find a full time job.
Related Reports:
Jinzhou City, Liaoning Province: Six Locals Stand Trial for Practicing Falun Gong
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Jinzhou City, Liaoning Province: Seven Locals Face Trial for Practicing Falun Gong
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