65-Year-Old Woman Faces 8-Year Sentence for Carrying Currency Exposing the Persecution of Falun Gong

(Minghui.org) A 65-year-old woman was tried on December 17, 2014, for carrying paper bills with information about the persecution of Falun Gong by the Chinese communist regime printed on them.

The Changyi District Procuratorate in Jilin City is seeking to have Ms. Li sentenced to prison for eight or nine years. Her lawyer argued that she broke no law by possessing such currency.

Because all legal channels of protest are closed to Falun Gong practitioners in China, they have come up with different ways to raise public awareness of the persecution taking place. One way is to print or write messages on paper bills, since they are legal tender and will continue to circulate.

Ms. Li was followed and stopped by two officers from the Hadawan Police Station in Jilin City as she walked home on October 16, 2014. Officer Li Tiancheng asked her what was in her bag and then snatched it from her. After finding the marked currency, he took her to the local police station.

Ms. Li's home was later ransacked by officers and agents from the local 610 Office. They seized her computer, printer, four cell phones, DVDs, Falun Gong books and informational booklets, and bank savings booklets.

The police falsified an interrogation report when Ms. Li refused to answer their questions or admit to “crimes” she never committed. The judge, however, allowed the public prosecutor to use the fabricated police evidence against Ms. Li at the trial. She vowed to file an appeal if she were indeed sentenced.

Ms. Li has been in the Jilin City Detention Center since her arrest.

Prior Arrests

Ms. Li has been arrested several times since the Communist Party started its violent suppression of Falun Gong in July 1999. She went to Beijing to petition the central government in 2000 and was later arrested.

She was arrested again in 2010 and taken to the Shahezi Brainwashing Center in Jilin City. The police forced her to watch propaganda videos slandering Falun Gong, in an attempt to make her write a guarantee statement renouncing her belief.

Perpetrators' Contact Information:

Zhang Hongyu (张宏宇), director of the Hadawan Police Station: [phone]Li Yongchun (李永春), officer from the Hadawan Police Station: [phone]Fu Bin (付斌), officer from the Hadawan Police Station: [phone]