(Minghui.org) It was learned recently that a 57-year-old resident of Taiyuan City, Shandong Province, had lost her appeal against a wrongful prison sentence for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
The Taiyuan City Intermediate Court ruled against Ms. Wang Gaimei without holding a hearing as she requested. She is currently serving her one-year-nine-month term at the Shanxi Province Women’s Prison (located in Yuci District, Jinzhong City).
Ms. Wang’s wrongful conviction stemmed from her arrest on December 6, 2023, after she was reported for distributing Falun Gong informational materials in Qingxu County, Taiyuan City. She was held at a local police station overnight and taken to the Taiyuan City Fourth Detention Center (located in Gujiao City, which is under the administration of Taiyuan) the next day.
Her family learned on January 2, 2024, that she had been issued a formal arrest warrant by the Yingze District Procuratorate days earlier.
The Yingze District Court heard her case in May 2024 (exact date unknown). Ms. Wang testified in her own defense and emphasized that no law in China criminalizes Falun Gong. The prosecutor recommended one and a half years but the judge gave her three more months because she said yes when he asked if she still practiced Falun Gong. He also fined her 8,000 yuan.
Ms. Wang was admitted to the Shanxi Province Women’s Prison around September 2024. It is unclear whether the prison transfer took place before or after the appeals court ruled against her.