(Minghui.org) A Yuyao City, Zhejiang Province resident was sentenced to 2.5 years for speaking up for her faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline also known as Falun Dafa that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Li Caiping, 64, was arrested and had her home ransacked on May 23, 2021, for writing “Falun Dafa is good” on a public wall. She was held at the Yuyao City Detention Center.
Ms. Li appeared in Yuyao City Court on November 4 and was sentenced to 2.5 years with 5,000 yuan fine in early December. She has appealed the verdict.
Prior to her latest arrest, Ms. Li has been sentenced three times to a total of 11 years in prison.
She was first arrested for doing the Falun Gong exercises in a park in February 2000 and detained in the Yuyao City Police Department for 15 days. She was arrested again on April 1, 2000, for going to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong.
Ms. Li was forced to live away from home for a month in August 2003 after the residential committee threatened to take her to a brainwashing center if she refused to write a statement to renounce Falun Gong.
Ms. Li was arrested again on October 18, 2005, for hanging up a banner that said, “Falun Dafa is good.” She was sentenced to three years in November 2005. While serving time at Zhejiang Province Women’s Prison, she was beaten by inmates, who also slammed her head against the wall and kicked her lower body. She was held in solitary confinement and bitten by mosquitoes and other insects.
Ms. Li’s next arrest was on June 11, 2009, when she was talking to people about Falun Gong in a residential area. She was sentenced to her second term of four years by the Yuyao City Court.
She was arrested again on January 16, 2016, while taking her ten-month-old granddaughter out for a walk. The police accused her of distributing Falun Gong materials. Despite not finding any Falun Gong-related materials at Ms. Li’s home, the police still kept her in custody and submitted her case to the procuratorate.
Ms. Li appeared in court on June 17, 2016. Her lawyer entered a not guilty plea for her. He argued that the police didn’t provide any evidence of her distributing Falun Gong materials, after having monitored her life for a period of time. The surveillance photos they submitted were all about her daily life. He demanded the judge acquit her.
The judge announced the 3.5-year term against Ms. Li on July 28. She was taken to the Zhejiang Province Women’s Prison on October 20, 2016, after the intermediate court rejected her appeal.
Perpetrators’ contact information:
Sheng Hui (盛辉), judge of Yuyao City Court: +86-574-62770042, +86-13685861165Shi Jiali (施佳丽), court clerk: +86-574-62770044, +86-13486668309Gu Chengcheng (顾埕铖), prosecutor of Yuyao City Procuratorate: +86-574-62776075, +86-13646632961Ye Zhili (叶枝利), secretary of Yuyao City Political and Legal Affairs Committee: +86-574-89282006, +86-13506785511
(More perpetrators’ contact information is available in the original Chinese article.)
Once Imprisoned for 11 Years, Zhejiang Woman Faces Prosecution Again for Her Faith
Ms. Li Caiping from Yuyao City, Zhejiang Province, Again Sentenced to Prison