(Clearwisdom.net) Dafa practitioner Xu Xianglan and her husband Wang Hansheng were arrested by the local police in July 1999. Later in January 2000, they were sentenced to eight and six years of imprisonment respectively. Their company, Shenshen Group Ltd, property was confiscated by the local authorities. Now that both of them have been released, they hope that the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong will be able to investigate their illegal abduction and sentencing.

Ms. Xu Xianglan, 57, was born on September 8, 1952. She used to live at 12 Huijiyi Road, Apt 1-702, Jiangan District, Wuhan City. A former employee of Wuhan Post and Telecommunication Engineering Meter Factory, she began practicing Falun Gong in 1992, and was a coordinator at a local Falun Gong practice site.

On July 20, 1999, Ms. Xu's husband Wang Hansheng was arrested by officers from the First Section of the Wuhan Public Security Bureau. Two team leaders surnamed Mai and Li from the Ninth Section led his interrogation sessions.

Two days later on July 22, Ms. Xu was arrested by the First Section. The people involved in the arrest were section leader Du, deputy section leader Xu Zhongquan, member of the political committee Chen, team leader Xu Shengquan and officer Li Ping.

At around 10 a.m. on December 12, 1999, Xu and her husband Wang Hansheng were tried by the Intermediate People's Court in Wuhan City. Prosecutors Li Xiaoping and Zhao Mingshan charged them with a code 286 (1999) violation. Before the trial, the presiding judge Liu Wanglin told Xu, "Don't try to say anything, if you did something just say yes. If there's something you didn't do, don't try to deny it."

Mr. Wang's younger brother Wang Hanqiao retained Zhang Kangyan and Wan Lili from the Weili Law Firm in Hubei Province to defend Xu Xianglan, and Yan Daoqing from the Dewei Law Firm and Liu Kun from the Changxin Law Firm to defend Wang Hansheng.

At the beginning, both Zhang Kangyan and Wan Lili were both very confident, "You guys have been wronged, if the first trial fails, we'll appeal." However, only days before the trial, they suddenly reversed their attitude, "Forget it, we can't appeal at all. There's no way, since this was decided at the top."

During the trial, they provided extensive evidence from the past to show Falun Gong practitioners' peaceful nature. At the end of the trial, Xu's lawyer told her, "This is a grave situation. You can call it a success if you can manage to walk out alive from prison."

The judge also told Xu, "We can't decide this, everything was decided by people above us."

In the morning of December 12, 1999, the court police brought Xu and Wang from the city's first and second detention centers respectively to the Intermediate Court. Starting from the detention center, fully-armed police forces lined the streets, and the road was sealed off from traffic.

During the trial, no family members or friends were allowed to attend.

On January 6, 2000, the Wuhan Intermediate Court sentenced Xu to eight years of imprisonment from July 24, 1999 to July 23, 2007 for "organizing cult organizations to disrupt the implementation of law." Wang Hansheng was sentenced to six years from July 20, 1999 to July 19, 2005. Wang's privately owned company was seized.

After six years in the Wuhan Women's Prison, Xu has now been released. Her husband spent five years in the Mens Prisoner Section of the Wuhan Women's Prison and is now back home as well.

The people involved in their persecution includes: the former Wuhan City Deputy Party Secretary, Secretary of the City Political and Judicial Committee, Chief of the Public Security Bureau Cheng Kangyan, Wuhan 610 Office Chief Ren Dengbin, 610 Office member Hu Shaobin, Public Security Bureau First Section Leader surnamed Du, deputy leader Xu Zhongquan, member of the political committee surnamed Chen, team leader Xu Shengquan and Li Ping (female), Public Security Bureau Ninth Section Leader surnamed Mai, Prosecutor Li Xiaoping and Zhao Mingshan from the People's Procuratorate, judge Liu Wanglin from the Middle People's Courts, attorney Luo Shoushun, Wu Zhengxi, clerk Wang Yan, the first and second detention center of Wuhan City, Wuhan Women's Prison Political Committee member Han Hanyun and deputy member Jiang Chun.