(Minghui.org) A woman in Changde City, Hunan Province, was recently sentenced to four years for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Fan Ying, 49, was arrested at home by officers from the Danyanglu Police Station and the Wuling District Domestic Security Office.
After nine months in the Changde City Detention Center, she was tried in the Taoyuan County Court on September 14, 2021. Her lawyer entered a not guilty plea on her behalf and argued that there is no law in China that says practicing Falun Gong is a crime. He said that the Constitution guarantees freedom of belief and Ms. Fan didn’t harm anyone by practicing. Ms. Fan also testified in her own defense and recounted how she had benefitted from practicing Falun Gong. The judge sentenced her around mid-October.
This is the second time that Ms. Fan has been sentenced. She was previously arrested on August 15, 2008, in Nanning City, Guangxi Province. In the Nanning City No.2 Detention Center, she was forced to do unpaid labor and wear handcuffs and shackles. She was also held in solitary confinement. She and other detainees often had to work overtime to finish the heavy workload and sometimes were only allowed three hours of sleep a night.
Ms. Fan was tried in the Qingxiu District Court on March 8, 2009, and sentenced to three years. Shortly after she was taken to the Guangxi Province Women’s Prison on February 3, 2010, she developed a severe heart condition due to the torture and was hospitalized several times.
Perpetrators’ contact information:
Liu Zhi (刘智), president of Taoyuan County Court: +86-736-6681506Cai Ting (蔡婷), judge: +86-736-6681926Long Zhijun (龙志军), judge: +86-13707361011Xia Yin (夏阴), prosecutor, Taoyuan County Procuratorate: +86-736-6631168Zhu Qiang (朱强), prosecutor, Taoyuan County Procuratorate: +86-13787891333, +86-736-6620029Zhang Wei (张伟), head of the Wuling District Domestic Security Office: +86-17773669053Li Bo (李波), police instructor: +86-18607368635Liu Qi (刘琪), deputy chief of the Danyanglu Police Station: +86-18073677477