(Minghui.org) Ms. Li Junlan, 54, from Liuhe County, Jilin Province, was sentenced to four years shortly after her court hearing on December 6, 2024.
Ms. Li’s ordeal stemmed from her arrest on September 27, 2023, for distributing materials which had information about Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999. After 14 days of criminal detention at the Changliu Detention Center, she was released on bail.
An officer called Ms. Li on August 3, 2024 and notified her to pick up her computer that was confiscated during the 2023 arrest. Her daughter accompanied her to the Qianjin Police Station. The police ordered the younger woman to leave first and promised to let her mother go home as soon as she signed some paperwork. This was a lie and Ms. Li didn’t return home that day. Her father went to the police station on August 23, 2024 to seek her release, but the police said her case was no longer with them as they submitted it to the Liuhe County Procuratorate.
Ms. Li’s family hired a lawyer for her at some point, but the lawyer was denied visits with her by the Changliu Detention Center. When the lawyer pointed out that it was illegal for the detention center to deny his request to visit her, the detention center director responded, “It’s not that we don’t allow you to see her; it’s a decision from the Political and Legal Affairs Committee.”
The Political and Legal Affairs Committee is an extra-judiciary agency tasked with overseeing the persecution of Falun Gong.
Ms. Li’s family didn’t receive any other updates about her case until a few days before her court date on December 6, 2024. With the previous lawyer having dropped out from the case as he couldn’t do anything about it, the family didn’t have enough time to find another lawyer for her. She refused to accept the court-appointed lawyer, who was instructed to enter a guilty plea for her. Instead, she testified in her own defense during her hearing at the Liuhe County Court.
The prosecutor accused Ms. Li of breaking the law by distributing decorations which had the words: “Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance [Falun Gong’s core principles].”
Ms. Li said that no law in China criminalizes Falun Gong and that it was her constitutional right to practice and tell people about Falun Gong.
The presiding judge adjourned the hearing without announcing a verdict.
Ms. Li’s daughter called the court on December 26 to inquire about her mother’s case. She was surprised to learn that Ms. Li had been sentenced to four years. She questioned the judge as to why he did not inform the family of her verdict. He didn’t answer.
This isn’t the first time that Ms. Li has been targeted for her faith. She was previously arrested and detained many times. The relentless persecution deeply traumatized her daughter, who was hospitalized as a result. Ms. Li and her husband struggled to pay their daughter’s medical bills and borrowed a lot of money. After the girl was discharged, she had to move in with a relative while her parents did odd jobs to support their family.
See the related report for details of Ms. Li’s past persecution.
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