(Minghui.org) Three Falun Gong practitioners were recently sentenced to prison for talking to people about their persecuted faith. Among them, 72-year-old Ms. Wang Yanqing received three years, despite the fact that she suffers from severe coronary heart disease and ischemic chest pain and was earlier denied admission by a detention center.
During the trial by the Nanzhao County Court on September 6, 2018, Ms. Wang's lawyer defended her innocence and argued that no law in China has ever criminalized Falun Gong. He appealed the sentence after the judge announced the three-year verdict. He also filed a complaint to the government, calling out the judge and prosecutor's unlawful persecution of his client for her faith.
The two other practitioners, Ms. Zhao Huaiying, 53, was sentenced to three years; and Ms. Zheng Hua, in her 50s, was given three years with four years' probation.
Ms. Wang, Ms. Zhao and Ms. Zheng were arrested on July 18, 2017 after the police found them talking to people about Falun Gong. More than twenty officers surrounded the three women after following them for a while. One officer punched Ms. Zhao in the chest and handcuffed her. They forced the women into a police car and detained them at the Chengguan Town Police Station. The police also confiscated the women's electric tricycles and Falun Gong-related materials that they had with them.
The police later brought the practitioners to the Nanzhao County Police Department, where they measured their height and obtained their fingerprints and footprints.
In the evening, they sent the practitioners to the Nanyang City Detention Center. After Ms. Wang failed the physical test for admission, the police brought her to the Nanyang Central Hospital for a CT scan and found that she had a severe heart problem. The detention center refused to admit her.
The officer then called Sun Junxiang, deputy director of the Nanzhan County Police Department, for further instructions.
Sun replied, “No matter what you do, you can't take her back.” In the middle of the night, Sun drove more than 30 miles to the detention center to demand that they admit Ms. Wang.
After the detention center insisted that they couldn't accept her, Sun and the other officer took Ms. Wang back home and put her under house arrest.
Before allowing Ms. Wang to enter her home, the police took her key and ransacked the home. They confiscated Falun Gong materials and many valuable personal items, including jade jewelry and other important financial and household documents.
While watching her during the home invasion, the police also demanded whether Ms. Wang had other property, bank deposits, stocks, pensions, etc.
Four months later, the police ordered Ms. Wang to sign the long overdue arrest warrant. She refused, stating that she hadn't violated any law in practicing Falun Gong and following the practice's principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance.
In another attempt to send Ms. Wang to the detention center, Sun bribed the doctor at another hospital to examine her again. But this time, the doctor found a hole in Ms. Wang's heart.
Despite the Nanyang Detention Center turning down the police's request to accept Ms. Wang again, the court nevertheless sentenced her to three years. It is unclear whether the prison has admitted Ms. Wang.