(Minghui.org) Ms. Li Li and Ms. Jiang Tao, both Falun Gong practitioners from Pingdu, Shandong Province, were sentenced to prison on October 11, 2017, Ms. Li to three and a half years and Ms. Jian to three years.
They appealed their sentences on October 16, 2017.
The lawyers for Ms. Li and Ms. Jiang met with the judge in Qingdao Intermediate Court on November 13 to apply for a second trial. They visited Ms. Li and Ms. Jiang in Pudong Detention Center that afternoon.
Ms. Jiang’s family and friends were dumbfounded by the Pingdu Court's decision. Based on the video played at the trial, the person distributing Falun Gong literature was obviously not Ms. Jiang, but she was still sentenced to three years.
Four days after Ms. Jiang submitted her appeal, a Pingdu Court official went to see her in Pudong Detention Center to confirm that she had approved the appeal, which she did.
Qingdao Intermediate Court officials went to the detention center on November 10 to ask Ms. Jiang what she wanted. Ms. Jiang said, “Practicing Falun Gong is legal. Dafa disciples are innocent. I demand to be released immediately.”
Ms. Jiang, 54, had many health problems prior to picking up the practice of Falun Gong in May 1998. Her ailments then disappeared. She was chatting with people in Xiyujia Village, Guozhuang Township, on April 11, 2017, when Guozhuang police substation officers arrested her. She was transferred to Pudong Detention Center the next day, and her arrest was approved on April 25 by the Pindu Procuratorate, which took over her case on June 13.
Pingdu Court officials tried Ms. Jiang in the Pudong Detention Center in the afternoon on September 1. Ms. Jiang said she was innocent, that practicing Falun Gong is not illegal. Her husband and her lawyer also defended her and demanded her immediate release.
Ms. Li, 45, lives in Dianqian Village in the Pingdu Economic Development District in Qingdao. She became a Falun Gong practitioner in 1999 and has since lived by the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. She is a devoted wife and a model employee.
Since the persecution of Falun Gong started in 1999, Ms. Li has been arrested and detained multiple times. She was fired from her job and was held in a mental hospital for 123 days. She was held in a forced labor camp for two years and was sentenced to prison twice, for a total of eight years. She was tortured brutally.
Officers from the Taishan Road Police Substation in Pingdu broke into Ms. Li’s home, ransacked it, and arrested her on April 11, 2017. Police threatened her, saying, “The computer and printer are either yours or your husband’s. We will arrest him, too!” Ms. Li was illegally detained in Pudong Detention Center in Jimo that same day.
Pingdu Court officials tried Ms. Li in the detention center on the morning of September 1. Ms. Li said, “Practicing Falun Gong is legal.” Her lawyer from Beijing also defended her and demanded her immediate release.