Shanxi Woman’s Appeal Against Wrongful 8.5-year Prison Sentence Rejected

(Minghui.org) Ms. Zhang Yuping’s appeal against an 8.5-year prison sentence for practicing Falun Gong was recently rejected.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Ms. Zhang, a Taiyuan City, Shanxi Province resident around 60 years of age, was arrested on June 12, 2021 for using paper currency printed with information about Falun Gong. Due to strict information censorship under the communist regime, many Falun Gong practitioners use creative ways to raise awareness about the persecution, including printing information on paper currency.

Ms. Zhang was first held at the Taiyuan City No. 3 Detention Center and then transferred to the Gujiao No. 4 Detention Center, where she is still incarcerated at the time of writing.

The Yingze District Court held three hearings of her case. The judge initially denied her daughter from being her family defender, but later relented as she filed a complaint against him.

Ms. Zhang’s daughter applied to have the judge and prosecutor recuse themselves from the case, as they were members of the Chinese Communist Party, which has been persecuting Falun Gong for the past two-plus decades. The judge replied that her argument about the conflict of interest didn’t stand and proceeded with the prosecution procedure.

During the next hearing, Ms. Zhang’s lawyer realized that the court didn’t inform Ms. Zhang of the hearing three days ahead of time, as required by law, and demanded that the judge adjourn the session.

At the third hearing, Ms. Zhang’s daughter demanded that the prosecutor exhibit the prosecution evidence in court for cross-examination. The prosecutor refused to do it, with the excuse that it wasn’t convenient for him to bring forth the evidence. The judge adjourned the hearing, promising to have another session for evidence cross-examination.

Without ever having a fourth hearing, the judge announced on January 28, 2022 that Ms. Zhang was sentenced to 8.5 years in prison with a 30,000 yuan fine. The verdict came three days before the Chinese New Year of February 1. As the eight-day Chinese New Year holiday was counted towards Ms. Zhang’s appeal window, her daughter was in a rush to file the appeal.

When Ms. Zhang’s daughter followed up with the higher court and Procuratorate about her case, the agencies either didn’t respond to her or claimed that they weren’t in charge of the case. Despite Ms. Zhang’s strong request for the higher court to hold a hearing of her case, the judge directly issued the ruling to uphold the original verdict a week later on April 29.

Prior to her latest sentencing, Ms. Zhang was repeatedly arrested for speaking up for her faith. She served a two-year labor camp term and another three-year prison term. After she was released, the police continued to harass her and have ransacked her home.

Perpetrators’ contact information:
Ren Jun (任君), prosecutor: [phone]Chang Yingang (常银刚), judge of first instance court: [phone]Zhao Peng (赵鹏), judge of second instance court: [phone]

Related report:

Shanxi Woman Sentenced to 8.5 Years for Using Banknotes Printed with Information about Falun Gong