(Minghui.org) Four Falun Gong practitioners from Hanzhong City, Shaanxi Province, were secretly sentenced by the Mian County Court on December 26, 2014.
Ms. Du Shuhui was sentenced to 8 years, Ms. Du Shuming to 7 1/2 years, Ms. Wang Xinlian to 3 1/2 years, and Ms. Zhang Xinyue to 3 years.
The Mian County Court not only refused the practitioners' attorneys request to meet with their clients but also convened the trial at the Hanzhong City Middle Court without notifying the practitioners' attorneys or families.
Although the practitioners' families have not received any formal notification of the verdicts, the instructor at the Hantai District Detention Center told them about the sentences.
All the practitioners are appealing to the superior court.
The practitioners have been detained in the Hantai District Detention Center in Hanzhong City since September 2013.
Practitioners Detained and Beaten
Ms. Xiong Jiyu, Ms. Zuo Li, and Ms. Tan Guangming were detained in the Hantai District Detention Center.
Ms. Xiong and Ms. Zuo were tried in the Gucheng County Court on September 29, 2014.
Female guards at the Hantai District Detention Center tortured the practitioners. Of the female instructors, only Zhu Xiumei and Yang Chen were Hantai-based guards. The other guards were on a one-year rotation from other counties.
Guard Zhao slapped the practitioners. She also ordered drug offender inmates Yang Xiaoqing, Cai Dandan, Wang Qin, and others to beat the practitioners for hours.
The prisoners bound Ms. Tan's hands and feet, taped her mouth shut, and covered her head with a quilt before beating her all night long. The chief of the detention center, Wu Hanlin, and Zhu Xiumie pretended to resolve the beating issue without mentioning guard Zhao.
