(Minghui.org) Three Jixi City, Heilongjiang Province residents were sentenced on June 2, 2021, for practicing Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Mr. Bao Wanming, 50, was sentenced to nine years and fined 100,000 yuan.Ms. Teng Shuli, 51, was sentenced to seven years and fined 80,000 yuan.Mr. Zhou Keming, 53, was sentenced to four years and fined 50,000 yuan.
Arrests
Mr. Zhou was reported for distributing informational materials about Falun Gong. After monitoring him for a period of time, the police arrested him on October 12, 2020. Ms. Teng and Mr. Bao, who distributed materials with Mr. Zhou, were also arrested.
While arresting Ms. Teng, the police refused to allow her to put on a jacket, even though the weather was already chilly in October. At the Jiguan District Police Department, the officers took turns interrogating her. They didn’t allow her to sleep or use the restroom, even when she was having her menstrual period at the time. The 3,000 yuan cash she had in her bag was also confiscated.
The three practitioners’ arrests were approved on November 18 and they were detained at the Jixi City Detention Center.
Court Hearing
The three practitioners were tried by the Jidong County Court on April 23, 2021, through a video conference. Only Mr. Bao was represented by a lawyer, who entered a not guilty plea for him. The other two practitioners acted as their own lawyers and also pleaded not guilty. The judge and prosecutor constantly interrupted their defense.
Ms. Teng recounted the physical abuse she suffered in custody. Mr. Bao testified against the police for including items not belonging to him as prosecution evidence against him. And Mr. Zhou argued that no law ever criminalizes Falun Gong in China and that his passing out materials about the persecution was to raise awareness about it and didn’t harm anyone. He also pointed out that the number of prosecution evidence used by the police against him didn’t match the items confiscated from him.
Mr. Bao’s lawyer added that the persecution doesn’t have any legal basis. The lawyer further stated that while the authorities accused the practitioners of “undermining law enforcement with a cult organization,” the police failed to provide any evidence to say what law enforcement has been undermined or how.
The lawyer also echoed his client’s argument that the police have violated the legal procedure themselves in arbitrarily ransacking the practitioners’ homes and fabricating prosecution evidence.
When the lawyer cited a notice from the Chinese Publication Bureau that revoked the ban on Falun Gong books, the prosecutor, Liu Chunbo, responded that “We don’t follow this [in prosecuting the case].”
In response to the lawyer’s request to verify the discrepancy in the number of pieces of evidence, the judge, Xu Zhongqi, ordered the lawyer to review the home-ransacking videos the next day, a Saturday when all the relevant agencies were closed.
Other Wrongful Sentences by the Jidong County Court
In the past few years, the Jidong County Court has sentenced several Falun Gong practitioners for upholding their faith. Below are a few cases.
Blocking Practitioners’ Families from Representing Them
Before Ms. Zheng Jinping and Ms. Liu Shuyun stood trial on March 28, 2018, Ms. Zheng’s husband had applied to represent her as a non-lawyer defender in court, only to be rejected by judge Gai Qiuhai, who proceeded to hold a secret hearing without informing the two women’s families. Both practitioners were sentenced to four years and four months, as well as being fined 50,000 yuan.
When Ms. Guan Yanfeng’s daughter applied to defend her in court, the judge denied her request and refused to allow her to attend Ms. Guan’s hearing on November 18, 2020. Only Ms. Guan’s sister-in-law was allowed to enter the courtroom on the hearing day.
Judges Hiding from Lawyer
Ms. Sui Guilan, a teacher from Taiyangsheng Elementary School in Jixi City, was arrested on January 15, 2018, for talking to people about Falun Gong. After she was indicted, her lawyer called judge Gai Qiuhai on May 23 to inquire about her case. Gai said that he was on a business trip in Beijing and was not in charge of the case. The lawyer then contacted Xu Zhongqi, president of the court, upon learning that Xu was in charge of the case.
Xu sounded nervous when he picked up the phone and asked the lawyer many questions. Afterward, Xu refused to pick up the phone when the lawyer or Ms. Sui’s family tried to contact him again.
The family went to the court on May 25 to look for Xu and was told that he was not in. The family went to the Letters and Visits Office on May 28 to complain about the court's refusal to meet with the lawyer.
When the staff heard that it was a case regarding a Falun Gong practitioner, they informed the family that there is an internal announcement that Falun Gong cases will not be processed until the case reaches the Intermediate Court. The family was told to contact the Jidong County Court for further information.
The family returned to the Jidong County Court and a staff person helped them contact Xu’s office, but he was not in. Several calls later, Gai picked up the phone and said that he had just returned from Beijing and knew nothing about the case.
After several failed attempts to contact Xu, the family asked the staff to convey the message to Xu. When the staff members heard that it was about a Falun Gong case, they gave the excuse that another judge was temporarily taking over that day and knew nothing about the case.
Xu avoided the lawyer and scheduled two court sessions. For the first hearing, Ms. Sui refused to appear in court, as her lawyer was not present. In order to hold the trial again, Xu lied to Ms. Sui, telling her that her lawyer had declined to take her case.
Without the presence of a defense lawyer, the Jidong County Court sentenced Ms. Sui to three years of imprisonment on June 25 and fined her 10,000 yuan.
Salon Owner Sentenced for Her Faith, Family Devastated
Ms. Wang Yumei was arrested at her hair salon on August 21, 2020. Upon hearing about her arrest, her ex-husband, 52, went around to seek her release, but to no avail. He was very distressed and suffered a stroke. He passed away a day later.
Worried about her safety, Ms. Wang’s younger brother had an accident at work and broke two fingers. Their father in his 80s is also grief-stricken.
Ms. Wang was sentenced to three years by the Jidong County Court around February 2021. When her family raised an objection, the judge responded, “We’ve already been very nice to her by [just] sentencing her to three years.”
Perpetrators’ contact information:
Li Xin (栗新), head of Jixi City Domestic Security Office: +86-13904676962, +86-13945810177Liu Chunbo (刘春波), prosecutor of Jidong County Procuratorate: +86-13125972577Xu Zhongqi (徐忠祺), presiding judge of Jidong County Court: +86-13144665817
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