Hefei City, Anhui Province: Over 40 Falun Gong Practitioners Indicted and Sentenced Since 2018 by Same Procuratorate and Court

(Minghui.org) At least 40 Falun Gong practitioners in Hefei City, Anhui Province, have been sentenced since 2018 for upholding their faith. They were all indicted and sentenced by the Shushan District Procuratorate and Shushan District Court, both of which were designated to handle Falun Gong cases in the region to expedite the prosecution process.

Since the Chinese communist regime began to persecute Falun Gong, an ancient spiritual discipline, in 1999, sentencing Falun Gong practitioners to prison through the rubber-stamp judiciary branch has been one of the major persecution tactics, especially after the abolishment of the forced labor camp system in 2013.

Similar to the Shushan District Procuratorate and Shushan District Court in Hefei, the authorities in many other cities across China have also designated specific procuratorates and courts to handle Falun Gong cases to expedite the sentencing.

They include the Wujiang District Procuratorate and Wujiang District Court in Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province; the Haizhu District Procuratorate and Haizhu District Court in Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province; and the Gaoyang County Procuratorate and Gaoyang County Court in Baoding City, Hebei Province.

According to available information collected by Minghui.org, the over 40 practitioners convicted by the Shushan District Court since 2018 came from all walks of life. The youngest practitioners were in their 20s and the oldest were in their 80s at the time of their sentencing. Their prison terms ranged from six months to five and a half years. A few were given probation and allowed to serve time at home. Every conviction also included court fines, usually a few thousand yuan.

Below are a few sentencing cases.

Ms. Li Cuiping was arrested in September 2021 while withdrawing cash at a bank. When she appeared in the Shushan District Court weeks later, on September 24, she was too weak to walk on her own and several bailiffs had to carry her into the courtroom. Despite her condition, the judge sentenced her to three years and two months with a 5,000-yuan fine. The prison refused to accept her due to her health. She returned home and passed away in December 2021.

Mr. Duan Tianjun was arrested on February 16, 2019, while accompanying his wife, Ms. Pan Nengcun, to a pharmacy. Ms. Pan had begun to suffer from mental issues a few years ago after she was traumatized by the police during an earlier arrest of Mr. Duan. The Shushan District Court later sentenced Mr. Duan to five and a half years. Although Ms. Pan doesn’t practice Falun Gong, she was given 10 months of probation.

Two other practitioners, Mr. Wang Dunlong, a famous calligrapher, and his wife’s sister, Ms. Hu Wenye, were sentenced on December 6, 2021, following their arrests on July 21, 2020. Mr. Wang was given two years and four months with a 4,000-yuan fine, and Ms. Hu was sentenced to one year and four months, with a probation of one year and six months and a 2,000-yuan fine.

Other practitioners who have been sentenced are: Bai Youhua, Chen Tianxia, Ding Ziqing, Gao Zonghua, Guo Enhui, He Weiling, Hua Xuexiang, Jiang Zhaoying, Jiang Guangxue, Kang Qihui, Kong Fanzhen, Li Caixia, Li Guozhen, Li Shiying, Li Yuelan, Liu Li, Liu Tifei, Ma Yuanjun, Pei Ling, Peng Yuxin, Sun Fangyun, Sun Shiwei, Tang Juzhang, Wang Kezhen, Wang Xiuying, Wu Weiming, Xu Min, Xu Ping, Yang Yajun, Yuan Jiaqin, Yin Min, Zhai Yanan, Zhang Ling, Zhang Ping, Zhang Shanying, Zhang Taozhi, Zhang Xinhong, Zhao Meiling, Zheng Hua, and Zhu Ruiying.

Perpetrators’ contact information:

Zhang Qinghong (张庆虹), president of Shushan District Procuratorate: [phone], [phone]Dai Wenjun (戴文珺), vice president of Shushan District Procuratorate: [phone], [phone]Zhao Shengsheng (赵生升), president of Shushan District Court: [phone]Zhu Chuannian (朱传年), vice president of Shushan District Court: [phone], [phone]

(More perpetrators’ contact information is available in the original Chinese article.)