(Minghui.org) Five Xiaogan City, Hubei Province residents were recently sentenced to 3 to 4 years in prison for their faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Xiao Yanfang, Mr. Liu Yibo, Ms. Wang Simei, Mr. Wang Qing, and Ms. Shu Yunlan were arrested on April 26, 2020, after being reported for talking to people about the persecution of Falun Gong and how the Chinese communist regime uses similar tactics in covering up the pandemic.
As the local detention center refused to accept them during the pandemic, the police released them the next day and issued the house arrest of them on May 19. The five practitioners were summoned to the Hanchuan City Police Station on September 21, after which the police monitored their daily life for a month.
Four officers broke into Ms. Xiao’s home while she was taking a nap at 1 p.m. on November 11. They pushed her outside and didn’t give her time to change her clothes.
On the same day, the police arrested Mr. Liu at home at 2 p.m. and harassed Mr. Wang’s parents around 4 p.m. and ordered them to have him turn himself in, as he had lived away from home to hide from the police.
In early December, Ms. Xiao’s father hired a lawyer for her. The lawyer visited her on December 8 and applied for bail release for her.
The police submitted the practitioners’ case to the Hanchuan Procuratorate in late December, which then moved it to the Xiaochang Procuratorate around mid-January. The prosecutor soon indicted the practitioners and forwarded their case to the Xiaochang Court on January 19. The prosecutor and police kept Ms. Xiao’s lawyer in the dark of the process. Only when he went to the Xiaochang Procuratorate to review her case document on January 21, did he find out her case was in the court already.
On February 1, Mr. Wang, who had gone to Changsha City, Hunan Province, was arrested by the Xiaogan police. A month later on March 15, the police also arrested Ms. Wang and another practitioner Ms. Hu Hanjiao, after they were reported for talking to people about Falun Gong.
Ms. Shu, the fifth practitioner originally arrested with the other four, was cleared of prosecution.
Ms. Xiao, Mr. Liu, Mr. Wang, Ms. Wang, and Ms. Hu appeared in Xiaochang County Court on June 16. The judge announced their sentences in late June: Ms. Wang and Ms. Hu were each sentenced to four years. Mr. Liu was given three years and nine months. Ms. Xiao was sentenced to three years and six months. Mr. Wang was given three years.
Perpetrators’ contact information:
Zhou Menghao (周孟浩), secretary of Hanchuan City Political and Legal Affairs Committee: +86-18907298008Xu Lei (涂磊), head of Hanchuan City Police Department: +86-13907290926Cai Nianxiang (蔡年祥), head of Hanchuan City Domestic Security Office: +86-13707292222Liu Xinchao (刘新潮), officer of Hanchuan City Domestic Security Office: +86-13707292950Yu Qingbo (余清波), deputy head of Hanchuan City Domestic Security Office: +86-13995852388, +86-15337329571, +86-18995702822Cai Chuanjie (蔡传杰), secretary of Xiaochang County Political and Legal Affairs Committee: +86-13907299871Xiaochang County Procuratorate: +86-712-4761460
(More perpetrators’ contact information is available in the original Chinese article.)