(Minghui.org) Three Linyi County, Shanxi Province residents were sentenced to prison in August 2021 for raising awareness about the persecution of their faith in Falun Gong, which has been going on for the past 23 years under the Chinese communist regime.
Ms. Wang Cuixia, 50, was sentenced to eight years with a 30,000-yuan. Ms. Li Xiujun was sentenced to two years with three years’ probation and a 3,000-yuan fine. Ms. Han Guizhen was given one year with two years’ probation and a 2,000-yuan fine.
Ms. Li was arrested on April 10, 2020, after living away from home for several months to hide from the police. Her three cellphones and some cash were confiscated. It is unclear when Ms. Han was arrested.
The police first began to harass Ms. Wang on March 24, 2020. After she was forced to live away from home, the police made several attempts to arrest her, but were unsuccessful. They kept coming to her home to search it, including a thorough search of every room and the attic on July 9. Her family was also harassed and questioned about her whereabouts.
Ms. Wang was arrested on November 9, 2020 while distributing informational materials about Falun Gong in a nearby town. She was held at the Yanhu District Detention Center in Yuncheng City and her arrest was approved on December 16. She held a hunger strike to protest the persecution and was force-fed several times.
The police accused Ms. Wang of providing banknotes printed with Falun Gong information to Ms. Li and Ms. Han. (Due to the strict information censorship in China, many Falun Gong practitioners are using creative ways to raise awareness about the persecution, including printing messages on banknotes.)
The police submitted the three practitioners’ case to the Wanrong County Procuratorate. Officer Yuan Jianqing of the Linyi County Domestic Security Office and judge Xue Yinduan blocked Ms. Wang’s lawyer from visiting her.
All three practitioners were tried by the Wanrong County Court, which is in charge of all Falun Gong cases for the 13 counties under Yuncheng City, on May 12, 2021. The judge announced their verdicts in August. Ms. Wang has been taken to the Shanxi Province Women’s Prison at the time of writing.
Perpetrators’ contact information:
Xue Yinduan (薛印端), judge, Wanrong County Court: +86-13633592282Zhang Weihong (张卫红), secretary, Wanrong County Political and Legal Affairs Committee: +86-18295904949Wang Shijun (王世俊), director, Linyi County 610 Office: +86-15386722886Yuan Jianqing (原建青), director, Linyi County Domestic Security Office: +86-15333046866
(More perpetrators’ contact information is available in the original Chinese article.)