(Minghui.org) A Zhuzhou City, Hunan Province resident was secretly sentenced to four years last November for her faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Liu Chunqin, 46, was arrested on May 27, 2020, for talking to people about Falun Gong. The police never informed her family of her arrest, and it took them a day to find out about it.
When the police still refused to release Ms. Liu after her initial 15-day detention, her family found police officer Xu Hansheng, who was in charge of her case, to inquire about it. Xu said they had forwarded the case to the Tianyuan District Domestic Security Office and redirected them to Chen Gengliang, the head of the Domestic Security Office.
Ms. Liu’s family contacted Chen, only to be given runarounds between him, the Zhuzhou City Police Department, and the procuratorate.
Not until October 11, 2020, did her family learn that Ms. Liu had been indicted by the Lusong District Procuratorate and was scheduled to appear in Lusong District Court on October 26. The court appointed a lawyer to represent her and enter a guilty plea for her. Her family members weren’t allowed to defend her in court.
As Ms. Liu’s family protested against the guilty defense by the court-appointed lawyer, the court postponed the hearing to October 29, only to cancel it on the day after the police arrested the lawyer that her family hired themselves to enter a not-guilty plea for her.
Ms. Liu was secretly tried on November 6 without legal representation and sentenced to four years. She appealed the verdict, but her appeal was rejected by the intermediate court in December.
During the time, Ms. Liu’s family and lawyer, who was later released, kept going to the court and procuratorate to inquire about her case. The judge didn’t reveal her sentencing and rejection of her appeal until late December.
Ms. Liu’s family is now filing a motion to reconsider her case with the higher court.
Related reports:
Family Torn Apart as a Result of the Persecution
The Persecution of Liu Yongfen and Her Family in Zhuzhou City, Hunan Province
Mother and Daughters Repeatedly Imprisoned During the Past Eight Years
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Category: Accounts of Persecution
