(Minghui.org) Ms. Wu Jianping was helping her 6-year-old son with his homework at around 7 a.m. on August 24, 2017 when police officers broke into her sister’s home in Qingdao City, Shandong Province, where she and her son were staying.
Nearly 30 officers ransacked the place for the next 12 hours and then arrested Ms. Wu, her sister Ms. Wu Xiaoxia, and her brother-in-law Mr. Lu Yaogui. The 6-year-old boy was deeply traumatized by the police brutality during the raid.
Mr. Lu said to the police, “This is my home and you are not allowed to mess with it! It's illegal for you to do this!”
“It is your home, but you don't have any say now,” one officer laughed at him.
The police targeted Mr. Lu, his wife, and sister-in-law because they all practice Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
The three family members were later convicted for their faith. Ms. Wu Jianping was sentenced to 5 years, Mr. Lu received 2.5 years and Ms. Wu Xiaoxia got 19 months.
Ms. Wu Xiaoxia was released in March 2019 after having served her time. Ms. Wu Jianping and her brother-in-law, Mr. Lu, were sent to Shandong Province Women’s Prison and Shandong Provincial Prison, both in Jinan City, on June 20 and July 25, 2019, respectively.
The guards at Shandong Province Prison kept Mr. Lu in a small, dark room for three days upon his arrival and tortured him in attempts to force him to renounce his faith.
Interrogation, Trial, and Sentencing
Ms. Wu Jianping was interrogated at Fengcheng Police Station following her arrest. The officers bound her to a chair with her body bent over for 12 hours. A male officer slapped her in the face for five minutes and proceeded to flirt with a female officer. The two inappropriately touched each other in front of Ms. Wu in order to humiliate her.
The police intimidated Ms. Wu Jianping's 6-year-old son three times in order to force him to testify against his mother. The boy lived with his grandparents following his mother's arrest and often had nightmares and woke up crying at night from then on.
The police submitted the three practitioners’ cases to Jimo Procuratorate in December 2017. Although the prosecutor refused to accept the cases and returned them twice to the police to request more evidence, the police refused to release the practitioners as required by the law and continued to fabricate evidence against them.
The police submitted their cases to Jimo Procuratorate for the third time on May 7, 2018, which then accepted them and moved the cases to Jimo Court.
The three practitioners appeared in Jimo Court twice, first on November 26, 2018 and then on January 10, 2019. Their lawyers entered a not guilty plea for them. The practitioners also testified in their own defense and talked about how practicing Falun Gong improved their health and elevated their character.
Prosecutor Gao Haiyan accused the practitioners of filing criminal complaints against Jiang Zemin, the former head of the communist regime who ordered the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999.
The lawyers argued that citizens have the constitutional right to file criminal complaints against government officials. The prosecutor did not respond.
The judge sentenced the practitioners to prison on March 22, 2019.
Ms. Wu Xiaoxia was released two days after the sentencing hearing, having served her term in the detention center.
Ms. Wu Jianping and Mr. Lu appealed their verdicts to Qingdao City Intermediate Court, which upheld the sentences without a hearing.
Related article in Chinese:陆耀贵被劫持到山东省监狱-遭残酷迫害
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Category: Accounts of Persecution
