Heilongjiang Woman Convicted for Helping a Blind Person Read Falun Gong Books

(Minghui.org) A Jiamusi City, Heilongjiang Province resident was sentenced to ten months in late November 2022 for helping a local blind resident read the teachings of Falun Gong.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Ms. Qin Yuzhen

Ms. Qin, 59, used to suffer from severe heart conditions before taking up Falun Gong. Thanks to the practice, she didn’t only regain her health but also became a more considerate person. She often volunteered to clean the hallway in her apartment building and never sought anything in return.

After the communist regime ordered the persecution in 1999, she was repeatedly arrested. While she was in custody, the police slapped her in the face, handcuffed her and forced her to sit in a metal chair for long hours.

On October 14, 2020, Ms. Qin and several practitioners studied Falun Gong’s teaching with a local resident who was blind. The police broke into the residence in the afternoon and arrested the nine female practitioners present and one of the practitioners’ family members.

Due to her health condition, Ms. Qin was released on bail two days later. When her bail condition expired, the police followed her and took photos of her. They announced to lift her residential surveillance on April 14, 2022.

While Ms. Qin thought that was the end of her case, the police installed an audio monitor on her front door in May 2022. They also followed her and took photos of her when she went out.

Wu Bin, the director of Jiao District Domestic Security Office, and three officers staked out outside Ms. Qin’s apartment building on July 12. Wu stopped her husband when he returned from work, took their home key, and raided their place. Ms. Qin’s Falun Gong books and photo of Falun Gong’s founder were confiscated. She was arrested when she returned around 6 p.m. No detention notice or list of confiscated items was ever provided to her or her family.

The police interrogated Ms. Qin in the evening and said they were renewing her case from two years ago.

Ms. Qin’s lawyer visited her on July 26. Before he had a chance to review her case document, the police submitted her case to the Xiangyang District Procuratorate. Prosecutor Shi Shiwei indicted Ms. Qin one day later and forwarded her case to the Xiangyang District Court. Both Ms. Qin and her lawyer argued that she didn’t violate any law in practicing her faith or helping people read its books.

Ms. Qin appeared in court on September 2, 2022. Judge Song Tao sentenced her to ten months with a 3,000-yuan fine on September 13. She is held at the Jiamusi City Detention Center at the time of writing.

Ms. Qin’s husband questioned the authorities about why they spent time persecuting good people and wasting the country’s resources. He said he supports Ms. Qin in practicing her faith, as it gave her good health and improved her character. She simply shouldn’t have been persecuted for it.

Perpetrators’ contact information:

Sui Yi (隋毅), judge of Xiangyang District CourtSun Yanmeng (孙彦萌), judge of Xiangyang District CourtWang Bin (王斌), president of Xiangyang District Court: [phone], [phone]Bi Hongshu (毕宏书), president of Xiangyang District Procuratorate: [phone]Shi Shiwei (时世伟), prosecutor of Xiangyang District Procuratorate: [phone]

(More perpetrators’ contact information is available in the original Chinese article.)