(Minghui.org) Two Yushu City, Jilin Province residents were secretly sentenced to prison in March 2020 for their faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since 1999.
Ms. Bai Lijun’s lawyer managed to find out that she was sentenced to 1.5 years, but the family of Ms. Wang Fengjuan, who doesn’t have a lawyer, still doesn’t know how long her prison term is.
Ms. Bai, 58 and a bakery shop owner, and Ms. Wang, 52, were arrested on February 11, 2019 and have been held at Dehui City Detention Center since July 2019.
After the prosecutor submitted the practitioners’ cases to Dehui City Court, the judge didn’t allow Ms. Bai’s lawyer to enter a not guilty plea for her, because she is a Falun Gong practitioner.
Both women appeared in Dehui City Court on August 8, 2019, but their families and Ms. Bai’s lawyer didn’t receive any notice from the court until April 21, 2020, when the court texted the two families that the practitioners were sentenced on March 27, 2020, without providing any other information.
Ms. Bai’s lawyer later found out her prison term. The detention center rejected her family’s request to visit her, saying it was due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Ms. Wang’s family contacted the court several times to inquire about her case. A vice president surnamed Li once answered their call, but he refused to provide any information and only asked them to find people in charge of the case. When her family asked for those people’s contact information, Li hung up the phone immediately.
Related reports:
Two Jilin Residents Detained for One Year and Counting for Their Faith—Still Awaiting Verdicts
Yushu City, Jilin Province: Over 100 Falun Gong Practitioners Arrested Since 2018
The Persecution of Ms. Wang Fengjuan in Yushu City, Jilin Province
Ms. Wang Fengjuan from Jilin Province Detained in the Kunming City Forced Labor Camp
