(Minghui.org) A resident of Qinhuangdao City, Hebei Province was home on April 6, 2020, when officers and staff members from the Haigang District Court broke in. The police restrained Ms. Yang Suhua’s son while the judge held a hearing in the case against her.
Ms. Yang had been targeted for her faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
The court staff returned to Ms. Yang’s home on April 13 to deliver a verdict. She was sentenced to a four-year prison term and fined 2,000 yuan. She had ten days, between April 13 and 23 to file an appeal, and was scheduled to be imprisoned on April 24.
It remains to be investigated whether Ms. Yang appealed the verdict or has been taken to prison.
According to Ms. Yang’s family, the police have been harassing her during the past few years and the authorities hastily sentenced her in order to close her case from 2016.
Ms. Yang was arrested on August 29, 2016, after being reported for talking to people about Falun Gong. After the Qinhuangdao City Detention Center refused to admit her due to her poor health, the police released her and put her under house arrest.
Officers from the Duzhuang Police Station frequently called her and urged her to go to the police station to answer some questions in early 2017.
After Ms. Yang finally went to the police station a few weeks later, they took her to the Haigang District Procuratorate to sign her indictment file. Only then did Ms. Yang realize that the police had fabricated the interrogation record against her and submitted her case to the Procuratorate.
On March 14, 2017, two police officers and two staff members from the Procuratorate visited Ms. Yang at home and told her that her case had been forwarded to the court.
The police attempted to bring Ms. Yang to the court on the morning of May 10, 2017, but relented after finding that she wasn’t home.
Ms. Yang’s health began to decline as a result of the harassment and fear of being imprisoned. She was often in a delirious state and having difficulty walking.
The authorities continued the harassment and finally decided to sentence her in 2020, despite her health condition.
