(Minghui.org) Falun Gong practitioners Ms. Huang Hongping and Ms. Shi Jianfang were tried by the Qidong City Court on September 26, 2016 and sentenced to six years and four years in prison for practicing Falun Gong.
Ms. Huang has appealed her sentence to a higher court.
Gong Yuchun, head of Qidong City 610 Office, claimed, “It's no use hiring an attorney or winning the criminal case: Falun Gong will be sentenced to prison regardless.”
Ms. Huang, 49, was arrested at her home on February 22, 2015, just a few months after being released from prison. She was previously arrested in April 2008 and sentenced to seven years in Nantong Women's Prison, where she was tortured.
She was charged with “using a cult organization to undermine law enforcement,” a common charge used by the Chinese Communist Party to imprison Falun Gong practitioners in its persecution of the spiritual practice.
She was tried on June 24, 2015 and in August 2015. Her attorney entered a plea of not guilty on her behalf. He refuted the charges, saying that such a charge is not applicable to Falun Gong practitioners, as there is no element of crime in following the spiritual practice.
The prosecutor did not argue with this logic. He just said, “We can't do anything about it.”
Ms. Shi, 63, was arrested on March 4, 2016. She was previously arrested in 2007 and sentenced to five years in prison. She has also been incarcerated in Nantong Women's Prison and tortured.
She was frequently monitored and followed by police after being released.
Ms. Huang lives in Linhaiqiao Village, Yinyang Town, Qidong City. She was fired from her job at Gaitianli Pharmaceutical Company because she practiced Falun Gong. She was also detained and tortured many times by the local police and 610 Office.
Ms. Huang was once held at the Qidong City Detention Center, where she was hung from a window frame and later shackled to an iron chair for over ten days.
She was taken to the Judong Women's Forced Labor Camp at the end of 2000 and again brutally tortured. She was also beaten by inmates, who severely injured her lower body.
Responsible parties:Gong Yuchun (龚裕春), head of Qidong City 610 Office: +86-13813700666Feng Ping (冯平), deputy chief of Qidong City Police Department: +86-13862879999