(Minghui.org) A 71-year-old Shenyang City, Liaoning Province resident was sentenced to two years and fined 2,000 yuan for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Yang Yajie began to practice Falun Gong in 1996. She was given one year of forced labor in 2000 for appealing for the right to practice Falun Gong in Beijing. Her latest arrest took place on April 22, 2019 after she was reported for spreading information about Falun Gong. The police confiscated her computer, printer and Falun Gong related materials before sending her to Shenyang No.1 Detention Center.
The local procuratorate and court had attempted to pressure her to plea guilty for practicing Falun Gong in exchange for a probationary sentence. She refused to comply and insisted that she didn’t violate any law in upholding her faith. She was convicted not long after she appeared in court on September 4, 2019.
Ms. Yang appealed her verdict. The Shenyang City Intermediate Court upheld her sentence without holding a hearing.
Ms. Yang's case is not an isolated one in Liaoning Province, which has been one of the provinces with the most severe persecution of Falun Gong.
According to information collected by Minghui.org, at least 44 Falun Gong practitioners in Liaoning have been sentenced for their faith in the first half of 2019, with the eldest being 81 and the longest term being seven years. Another 160 practitioners were arrested, with the oldest being 83. Seven practitioners have passed away as a result of the persecution.
