(Minghui.org) A Fushun City, Liaoning Province resident was sentenced to four years in prison in October 2019, after being detained for more than three years for practicing Falun Gong.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a mind-body discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Xu Guirong was arrested together with 11 local Falun Gong practitioners in July 2016 during a police sweep.
The Dongzhou District Procuratorate twice returned the practitioners’ cases to the police due to insufficient evidence, before indicting them and submitting their cases to Dongzhou District Court.
Judge Tian Hao from the Dongzhou District Court later split the practitioners’ cases and assigned them to nearby courts, including Wanghua District Court, Qingyuan County Court, and Fushun County Court.
Ms. Xu was tried by Wanghua District Court in a makeshift courtroom at Nangou Detention Center on September 10, 2018. Her lawyers entered a not guilty plea for her. She also testified in her own defense.
While the other eleven practitioners were sentenced to 2 years 4 months to 3 years 10 months in prison in December 2018, the judge didn’t announce Ms. Xu’s verdict until October 2019.
Fushun, Liaoning Province: 12 Falun Gong Practitioners Arrested in One Day, 11 Sentenced to Prison
Twelve Falun Gong Practitioners Held in Custody for More Than Two Years Without Trial