(Minghui.org) A 76-year-old Jinzhou City, Liaoning Province resident was sentenced on February 24, 2023 to five years in prison for her faith in Falun Gong. She has appealed the verdict.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Wei Xiuying
Ms. Wei Xiuying was arrested on May 25, 2021 after being followed by the police. She was released on bail as she failed the physical examination. Two officers harassed her in May 2022 before submitting her case to the Linghai City Procuratorate.
Judge Xu Bing of the Linghai City Court came to Ms. Wei’s home with four residential committee staff members on July 19, 2022 to deliver her indictment. The indictment contained fabricated information that Ms. Wei was arrested on April 27, 2022 for distributing Falun Gong promotional materials and was given ten days of administrative detention.
Prosecutor Li Feng of the Linghai City Procuratorate called Ms. Wei’s son-in-law on December 13 and said they would come to their shared home three days later to hold her hearing. The session was later canceled after two court officials tested positive for COVID.
The presiding judge Huang Yanchun, prosecutors Li Dongyu and Li Feng, as well as ten other people came to Ms. Wei’s home on the morning of February 10, 2023. They claimed to be there to “verify certain information regarding her case and go through the formalities.” They, however, only read some prepared documents and left without having Ms. Wei read the documents herself or asking her to sign anything.
The judge announced on February 24 that Ms. Wei had been sentenced to five years with a 10,000-yuan fine.
Past Persecution
Before Ms. Wei took up Falun Gong in 1997, she struggled with leg disability, a severe heart condition, a lung condition and neck problems. She was a frequent visitor to the hospital and almost went bankrupt due to mounting medical costs. However, she soon regained her health by doing Falun Gong’s five sets of slow moving exercises and following the practice’s spiritual teachings. She also changed from a hot-tempered person to someone who is gentle and understanding.
Because she held firm to her faith after the persecution of Falun Gong started in 1999, Ms. Wei was arrested several times and sentenced to seven years in prison, before her latest ordeal.
Traumatized by the police humiliation in custody in 2009, Ms. Wei’s then 20-year-old younger daughter suffered a mental breakdown and still needs constant care as of today.
Two years after Ms. Wei was released from prison in 2014 on the verge of death, she faced an uphill battle when the authorities arbitrarily suspended her pension.
Arrested for Appealing for Falun Gong
Ms. Wei went to Beijing in 2000 to appeal for the right practice Falun Gong. She was arrested on her way there and was held at the Linghai City Lockup for a month.
She and several other practitioners decided to return to Beijing in 2001 to appeal again. They chose to walk instead of taking buses or trains to avoid police checkpoints. Just as they were about to arrive in Beijing after walking for a week, the Liaoning police caught up with them and arrested them. Ms. Wei was tortured at the Linghai City Detention Center and almost died after two months. She was released on bail.
Family of Four Arrested and Interrogated Together
At 5 a.m. on April 17, 2009, over 20 police officers descended on Ms. Wei’s home. They broke in by prying open the door. Three officers restrained Ms. Wei, handcuffed her and stuffed her mouth with a rag. They dragged her downstairs and pushed her into a police car.
Ms. Wei’s husband and their two daughters were also dragged out of bed and handcuffed. Ms. Zhao Bing, the younger daughter, was only wearing underwear when the police suddenly lifted her comforter. She called her father for help, but he had already been restrained by the police. The police didn’t allow her to put on her clothes and took her and her family to the police station.
While interrogating Ms. Wei, one officer stomped on her chest, causing her to spit out mouthfuls of blood. The officers also hit her on the head and face with a bottle filled with water, before pouring boiling water on her.
In the middle of the night, an officer gave Ms. Wei some instant noodles to eat, claiming that it was sent by her older daughter Ms. Zhao Hong’s husband. The officer searched Ms. Wei’s clothes and pocketed the 45 yuan she had.
Ms. Wei tasted something strange in the noodles and stopped eating. But Ms. Zhao Bing, who had been starving all day, finished it. Her sister and father didn’t eat.
Ms. Wei’s husband and two daughters were released hours later. Shortly after they returned home, Ms. Zhao Bing suffered a mental breakdown. She often stayed naked and refused to leave her room. Sometimes she locked herself in the restroom. She couldn’t recognize her family members and randomly screamed and hit people. She refused to take showers or use sanitary pads when she had her menstrual period. She had lice in her hair and her fingernails were very long. For a period of time, she was severely overweight as she couldn’t stop eating. Her family had to ration her food which helped her lose weight.
Sentenced to Seven Years
Not long after she had the noodles on the night of April 17, 2009, Ms. Wei began to experience dizziness, drowsiness, vomiting, and confusion. Days later, she was transferred to the Linghai City Detention Center, where her condition continued to deteriorate. She also began to vomit blood, and had convulsion and chest pain.
Shortly after the police took Ms. Wei to the Fushun Brainwashing Center in July 2009, they had to transfer her back to the detention center, as she was so weak that they were afraid she might die in the brainwashing center.
When Ms. Wei stood trial in the Linghai City Court in late July 2009, she was carried into the courtroom on oxygen. She was so weak that she couldn’t stand or talk. Judge Li Daming quickly adjourned the hearing.
Ms. Wei was still very weak when the judge held another hearing in the detention center on August 7, 2009. Judge Li deceived her sister and brother into signing her case document pleading guilty by promising to release her the next day. Li added that they shouldn’t tell her older daughter Ms. Zhao Hong about it, because she also practiced Falun Gong and she wouldn’t agree for her mother to plead guilty.
A week later on August 14, instead of seeing Ms. Wei acquitted, her sister and brother were given a copy of her verdict: a seven-year prison sentence. They talked to Wang Jingshan, the deputy director of Linghai City Police Department, to demand Ms. Wei’s release. Wang ridiculed them, “How could you ever count on an oral agreement [with judge Li]?”
Hellish Prison Torture
Four officers went to the detention center on September 8, 2009, wrapped Ms. Wei with a comforter and drove her to the Liaoning Province Women’s Prison.
She was taken to the Eighth Ward, known as the “prison in a prison.” But even the guards there refused to take her due to her physical condition. She was left on the ground for half a day and then taken to the Eleventh Ward for the elderly and disabled. She remained incoherent, was sleepy all day, and was unable to talk.
Fearing that Ms. Wei might die there, the guards arranged several inmates to watch her, including when she used the restroom or washed herself. The inmates often grabbed her hair and hit her head against the wall.
As she gradually recovered, the guards ordered the most brutal and vicious inmates to torture Ms. Wei, including depriving her of sleep and slapping her in the face. When she had chest pain, they specifically hit her on the chest and kicked her private parts. After she fainted from the beating, the inmates grabbed her hand to force her to sign a prepared statement renouncing Falun Gong.
The inmates also forced Ms. Wei to sit on the concrete ground and took turns beating her. One of her teeth was knocked out. Inmate Qi Yue sat on her and continued to beat her. Her mouth was bleeding and she was unable to move. After she came to, she questioned the inmates as to why they beat her like that. Qi said to her, “The government told us, if we beat Falun Gong (practitioners) to death, it’s counted as suicide.”
Sometimes Qi dragged Ms. Wei to the restroom, which didn’t have surveillance camera, and beat her. As a result of the torture, Ms. Wei became incapacitated and bedridden. In addition to the beatings, Qi also withheld the food and water given to Ms. Wei.
During her five-year incarceration, the guards arranged a total of 19 inmates to monitor and torture Ms. Wei. She was released on medical parole on April 14, 2014, two years before her term ended.
Starting in December 2016, the Linghai Social Security Office stopped her pension payments and demanded that Ms. Wei return the 130,000 yuan she had received during her imprisonment. She filed a lawsuit against the Social Security Office and won the case. Instead of reinstating her pension, however, the social security office harassed her instead.
Perpetrators’ information:
Huang Yanchun (黄艳春), presiding judge, Linghai City Court: +86-18941603418Li Feng (李峰), prosecutor, Linghai City Procuratorate: +86-13314160001, +86-416-8107161
(More perpetrators’ information is available in the original Chinese article.)
Related reports:
Ms. Wei Xiuying Remains in Liaoning Women's Prison Despite Her Poor Physical Condition
Ms. Wei Xiuying Had to Be Carried Into Court as a Result of Being Brutally Tortured
Ms. Wei Xiuying in Critical Condition Due to Torture
Ms. Wei Xiuying from Linhai City, Liaoning Province, In Danger of Losing Her Life Due to Persecution
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