(Minghui.org) After being detained for about ten months, five Yingkou City residents were sentenced to prison in November 2018 for their belief in Falun Gong, a meditation system that consists of exercises and the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. The Chinese Communist Party has been persecuting the practice since July 1999.
These practitioners are Ms. Jin Cuixiang, Ms. Han Xuesong, Ms. Han Meiling, Ms. Liu Aimin, and Ms. Xu Xiaoyan. The imprisonment terms are four years for Ms. Jin with a fine of 8,000 yuan, three and half years for Ms. Han Xuesong with a fine of 8,000 yuan, two years for Ms. Han Meiling with a fine of 5,000 yuan, one year for both Ms. Liu and Ms. Xu with a fine of 3,000 yuan each.
Ms. Jin, 53, was a worker at a chemical plant in Liaoning Province. After beginning to practice Falun Gong, she followed the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and became a better person with good work ethics. Because of her belief, however, she was sentenced to 10 years in 2002 and was severely tortured in prison including being deprived of sleep and pricked with a needle.
Barely five years after she was released from prison, Ms. Jin was targeted again for her faith on January 13, 2018. She was driving through Liguan Town on that day when she was pulled over by police. The officers confiscated two stacks of Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party that were found in the vehicle.
The police arrested Ms. Jin and her five passengers, including the other four practitioners mentioned above and another practitioner, Ms. Zhang Yuxia. The six practitioners were first taken to Liguan Police Station and transferred to Jinzhou Detention Center that evening.
The practitioners were ordered to remove all clothes for physical examination, which included checkup of blood, urine, blood sugar, and electrocardiogram (ECG). Throughout the process, no officers showed their IDs or revealed their names, even when asked by the practitioners.
Ms. Zhang was found to suffer from poor health after the physical examination. She was released on bail after her family paid 5,000 yuan.
The Wafangdian Procuratorate charged the other five practitioners on June 11, 2018, and submitted their cases to the Wafangdian Court. A trial was originally scheduled on July 9 and it was later postponed to November 5. Only family members from one of the five practitioners attended the trial since other families were not informed of the trial.
Ms. Jin, Ms. Han Xuesong, and Ms. Han Meiling appealed their cases at the Dalian Intermediate Court, which ruled to uphold the original verdict on January 9, 2019, without holding a hearing.
When Ms. Liu and Ms. Xu were released from Yaojia Detention Center on January 12, 2019, both of them were in rags that could hardly cover them. Despite the freezing winter in northeastern China, they only wore slippers and had no money. Seeing they had to travel over 70 miles back home, one officer lent them 200 yuan as travel expenses and they returned it after their families came later that day.
Key Responsible Personnel:
Tan Jiarong: director of Wafangdian Court, +86-411-85556999Mou Linde: officer at Wafangdian Court in charge of these cases, +86-411-85556877, +86-18641191767
Related Article:
Additional Persecution News from China – January 16, 2018 (15 Reports)
