(Minghui.org) Democratic countries are in agreement when it comes to sanctioning human rights abusers. After the U.S. passed the Magnitsky Act in 2016, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the 27-member-country EU enacted similar laws. Australia and Japan are working on the same.
In accordance with these laws, Falun Gong practitioners have compiled lists of perpetrators involved in the persecution of Falun Gong. Every year they submit several lists to democratic governments, urging them to sanction those named on the list.
Beginning on July 14, 2021, Falun Gong practitioners in more than 30 countries have been submitting the latest list of perpetrators involved in the persecution of Falun Gong to their respective governments, demanding sanctions for these human rights abusers, including denying entry into their countries and freezing their assets overseas.
One name on the list is Zhang Xuequn.
Perpetrator Information
Full Name of Perpetrator: Zhang (last name) Xuequn (first name) (Chinese: 张学群)Gender: MaleCountry: ChinaDate/Year of Birth: October 1957Place of Birth: Funan, Anhui Province, China
Title or Position
November 2010 – December 2012: Vice president of the Anhui Provincial High Court; deputy secretary of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) Committee at the High Court
December 2012 – January 2013: Secretary of the CCP Party Committee in the Yunnan Provincial High Court; vice president of the Yunnan Provincial High Court; deputy president of the Yunnan Provincial High Court
January 2013 – January 2018: President of the Yunnan Provincial High Court; secretary of the CCP Party Committee in the Yunnan Provincial High Court
January 2018 – January 2021: Vice president of the Liaoning Provincial High Court; president of the Liaoning Provincial High Court
Main Crimes
Ever since the CCP started persecuting Falun Gong on July 20, 1999, Zhang Xuequn has been doing his utmost to implement the former CCP head Jiang Zemin’s persecution policy. During his tenure as president of the High Courts in Yunnan Province and Liaoning Province, Zhang Xuequn controlled and directed court officials under his jurisdiction to persecute and frame innocent people. He used his authority to commit crimes against Falun Gong practitioners.
When the judges in Zhang Xuequn’s jurisdiction handled Falun Gong cases, Falun Gong practitioners were found guilty simply for exercising their lawful right to raise awareness about the persecution. With unclear facts, insufficient evidence, and unknown witnesses, the judges illegally sentenced practitioners based only on subjective assumptions and personal preferences. Ni Kai of the Jinzhou Municipal Court in Liaoning Province even claimed that Falun Gong was a political issue, so he could sentence Falun Gong practitioners to as many years in prison as he wanted. As a result, many practitioners have been unjustly imprisoned or even persecuted to death.
According to available statistics, at least 398 Falun Gong practitioners were illegally sentenced during Zhang Xuequn’s tenure. Practitioners Wang Dianguo, Lan Lihua, Zhang Zhencai, Li Yanqiu, and Hu Lin died while serving time in prison. As president of the High Court, Zhang Xuequn should be held responsible for the heinous crimes of persecuting, torturing, killing, and disabling Falun Gong practitioners, all of which occurred in the court system under his jurisdiction.
The following is a collection of specific crimes committed by Zhang Xuequn during his tenure in Liaoning Province and Yunnan Province.
Cases from January 2018 to January 2021, while Zhang Xuequn was Vice President, and later President, of Liaoning Provincial High Court
According to available statistics, at least 296 Falun Gong practitioners were sentenced during the three years Zhang Xuequn was president of the Liaoning Provincial High Court. In 2018, 131 practitioners were sentenced and 29 were tried. In 2019, 91 practitioners were sentenced. Among them, the oldest practitioner was 81, the longest term was eight years, and the total fines were 227,000 yuan. In 2020, 70 practitioners were sentenced and 80 were tried. Practitioners Wang Dianguo, Lan Lihua, Hu Lin, Zhang Zhencai, and Li Yanqiu were sentenced and died in prison.
Highlights of Deaths
1) On the night of July 4, 2017, police broke into the home of practitioner Mr. Wang Dianguo. They arrested him, his wife Ms. Yu Baofang, and their son Mr. Wang Yu. The home was ransacked as well. Thirteen days later, on July 17, Ms. Yu died in Anshan City Detention Center. Mr. Wang Dianguo was tried on April 24, 2018, and sentenced to four years in prison. He was tortured to death in prison on June 16, 2020.
2) Ms. Li Yanqiu was arrested on December 14, 2018, and held in a detention center. On the morning of January 21, 2019, without informing her family, she was secretly put on trial. The judge rushed through the proceedings while Ms. Li was extremely weak. She was unable to walk on her own or defend herself. Her court-appointed lawyer entered a guilty plea for her against her will. The attorney hired by her family was never allowed to meet with her. The family later went to the court to inquire about her case, only to discover that Ms. Li had already been sentenced to five years in prison. On March 4, 2019, after just 14 days in prison, Ms. Li died. She was 52.
3) Ms. Lan Lihua was arrested on November 6, 2018. While being held at the Shenyang City Detention Center, she was severely tortured, including being force-fed and hung up. An egg-sized lump appeared in her left breast, which was later diagnosed as breast cancer. In May 2019, Ms. Lan was sentenced to three years and ten months in prison. She passed away on April 23, 2020, in Liaoning Women’s Prison. She was 49.
4) Mr. Hu Lin was a 48-year-old engineer. He was arrested on May 23, 2019, and later taken to Faku County Detention Center. On June 20, 2019, Mr. Hu was sentenced to two years in prison and given a fine of 20,000 yuan. On February 16, 2020, Mr. Hu was tortured to death at Kangjiashan Prison in Shenyang City.
Examples of Illegal Sentencing
1) Two mass arrests in Dalian City, Liaoning Province, led to 15 Falun Gong practitioners being sentenced to prison
On October 8, 2017, the Political and Legal Affairs Committee and the Public Security Bureau of Dalian Development Zone ordered local police substations to arrest 19 Falun Gong practitioners. Between April and June 2018, nine practitioners were sentenced: Zhou Haiyan, eight years; Jia Xiuchun, two years; Shi Ningyao, five years; Fang Fang, three years and six months; Lin Jingping, four years; Hu Zhiqin, seven years and six months; Lai Guifang, seven years; Cao E, three years and six months; and Hao Fukui, who was 81, was sentenced to three years.
On November 12, 2018, 23 Falun Gong practitioners were arrested in Dalian City, and six of them were sentenced to heavy terms: eight years for Song Xuecun; eight years for Chen Yuerong; eight years for Zhang Kexin; eight years and six months for Xu Yanxia; four years for Cheng Yurong; and three years and three months for Jiang Lianxiang.
2) A judge threatened, “Three years for a guilty plea, and seven to ten years for a not-guilty plea.”
On July 10, 2019, more than 20 practitioners were arrested in Shenyang. Mr. Zhao Jiyuan, then 65, and his wife Ms. Li Xiujie were among them. Mr. Zhao was severely beaten during his detention. On December 10, 2019, during a court hearing, Mr. Zhao refused to plead guilty or sign court documents. After the hearing, the judge told his son to persuade him to plead guilty. The judge threatened his son, saying, “We will sentence him to three years if he pleads guilty and seven to ten years if he pleads not guilty.” Mr. Zhao was later sentenced to seven years and six months in prison.
3) 72-year-old Ms. Dong Shuxian sentenced to seven years
On July 14, 2020, three court officials and three police officers broke into the home of Ms. Dong Shuxian, a practitioner in Chaoyang City. They claimed that she had been sentenced to seven years and they were there to take her to prison. Not aware of the sentence, Ms. Dong Shuxian was confused. She asked the judge, “What did I do? Why am I sentenced to seven years? Which law did I break?”
4) 80-year-old Ms. Zhao Yulan sentenced to three years in prison
Ms. Zhao Yulan of Fushun City was sentenced twice for a total of nine years and six months in prison. She was arrested again on October 5, 2019, and sentenced to three years in prison. In October 2020, she was taken to Liaoning Women’s Prison.
More Sentencing Cases from January 2013 to January 2018 while Zhang Xuequn served as President of Yunnan Provincial High Court
According to available statistics from Minghui.org, at least 102 Falun Gong practitioners were sentenced during Zhang Xuequn’s five-year tenure as president of the Yunnan Provincial High Court. In 2013, 29 practitioners were sentenced. In the first half of 2014, one practitioner was sentenced, and between July and September, 21 were sentenced. In both 2015 and 2016, 19 were sentenced. And ten more were sentenced in 2017. The oldest Falun Gong practitioner sentenced was 79.
Selected Sentencing Cases
1) Senior teachers, an engineer, and a deputy director sentenced to seven and a half years in prison
On August 16, 2014, practitioners Wang Zhengli (a deputy director), Wang Juzhen (a senior elementary school teacher), Bi Jinmei (a farming engineer), and Li Xiaoling (a senior elementary school teacher) were arrested and framed by the police. On May 4, 2015, Wang Zhengli, Wang Juzhen, and Bi Jinmei were each sentenced to seven years and six months in prison. Li Xiaoling was sentenced to three years with four years of probation.
2) 69-year-old Ms. Yin Shuyuan in Kunming City secretly sentenced to four years in prison
On April 9, 2014, the Xishan District Court secretly tried Ms. Yin Shuyuan, a 69-year-old practitioner who was arrested in September 2013. She was not represented by a lawyer and her family was not notified of the trial. The proceedings lasted only around 30 minutes. Her personal belongings confiscated during a home ransacking were used as evidence against her. Because that “evidence” was not enough for a conviction, the court used blank CDs to “justify” a long prison term. In July 2014, the Xishan District Court secretly sentenced Ms. Yin to four years in prison.
3) Ms. Tang Yu convicted on the day of her arrest
On November 26, 2015, Ms. Tang Yu was arrested and detained in a police station for 12 hours. The police beat her, stuffed her mouth with a piece of cloth, and did not let her eat or sleep. They also cuffed her hands behind her back to a chair. On the same day she was arrested, Ms. Tang received a verdict from the Kunming Intermediate Court, sentencing her to three and a half years in prison. After that, she was detained at the Xishan District Detention Center. Ms. Tang appealed but to no avail. One year later, she was transferred to the Yunnan No. 2 Women’s Prison.
4) Husband and wife sentenced to prison
Mr. Shi Jianwei and his wife Ms. Xiao Zhu were arrested on September 7, 2015. On June 23, 2016, the Xiangyun County Court held a hearing. On August 5, 2016, their lawyer received the verdict sentencing Mr. Shi to six years and a half in prison and Ms. Xiao to five years.
5) Disabled practitioners Ms. Wang Ping and Ms. An Lanbo from Chuxiong City were illegally sentenced to long prison terms
Ms. Wang Ping and Ms. An Lanbo, both in their 50s and disabled, were from Chuxiong City, Yunnan Province. They were arrested and had their homes ransacked in December 2015 for practicing Falun Gong. They were then released on bail. On December 19, 2016, Ms. Wang and Ms. An were forced to appear in court. Ms. Wang was sentenced to seven years in prison and taken directly to Yunnan No. 2 Women’s Prison. Ms. An was sentenced to three years in prison and taken to Chuxiong Detention Center.
6) Engineer tortured by the police and sentenced to seven years in prison
Ms. He Lichun, a 43-year-old engineer from Qujing City, was arrested on August 23, 2017, and tortured by Domestic Security Division officers. She was later sentenced to seven years in prison.
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