(Minghui.org) Ms. Qi Ximin was making dinner on July 1, 2016 when police broke in and arrested her. She was sentenced to 4 years in prison and fined 5,000 yuan on May 25, 2017.
This is not the first time that the Anshan City resident has been targeted for refusing to renounce Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline being persecuted by the Chinese communist regime. Ms. Qi was sentenced to five years in prison back in 2007. One of her eyes was blinded as a result of torture.
Wang Dengke, head of Tiexi District Police Department Domestic Security Office, was responsible for Ms. Qi’s latest arrest. He and his deputies didn’t show any ID or search warrant when they ransacked her home.
In order to frame Ms. Qi, the police placed Falun Gong informational materials confiscated from her home in a mailbox in a local residential building. They then found two “witnesses” who allegedly saw Ms. Qi place the materials in the said mailbox.
Prosecutor Liu Meng of Tiexi District Procuratorate proceeded to file an indictment against Ms. Qi. Judge Wang Xue of Tiexi District Court tried Ms. Qi on April 27, 2017 and convicted her less than one month later.
Ms. Qi’s family saw inconsistencies in the prosecution witnesses’ written statements, so they went to talk to one of them after the hearing. Hu Jun, a staff member of the local street committee, denied that she had ever testified against Ms. Qi. She reported the matter to her supervisor, Wu Jing, who admitted that the local police station ordered Hu to serve as a prosecution witness.
Ms. Qi’s family recorded the conversations and submitted the audio tape as part of their appeal to Anshan City Intermediate Court. The higher court ruled in September 2017 to uphold the guilty verdict without holding a hearing.
Ms. Qi’s family hired a new lawyer to file a motion to reconsider the case, but the higher court turned down the request.
Ms. Qi is now serving her second jail term at Liaoning Province Women’s Prison.
