(Minghui.org) A 59-year-old Linyi City, Shandong Province resident was sentenced to 3.5 years for distributing informational materials about Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Ms. Gao Xixia was arrested on June 11, 2020 after being reported to Yucailu Police Station officers. Although the police released her on bail the next day, they broke into her home and arrested her again on June 26 without a search warrant or detention warrant. Her debit cards and cash at home were confiscated. In addition to the police, several agents from the local Domestic Security Office were also involved in the arrest and home raid.

Ms. Gao’s family visited the police station many times, urging them to release her and not participate in the persecution, but to no avail. Her loved ones emphasized that Falun Gong wasn’t on the Ministry of Public Security’s list of cults and that the Chinese Publication Bureau also lifted the ban on Falun Gong books. Unable to refute them, officer Li Qiang refused to meet with Ms. Gao’s family.

The family then went to the Domestic Security Office, but the officers responsible for Ms. Gao’s arrest also refused to meet with them. With the family’s persistent effort, the officers claimed that the arrest was ordered by the Political and Legal Affairs Committee, an extra-judiciary agency tasked with overseeing the persecution. 

When the family tried to talk to Han Qihong from the Political and Legal Affairs Committee, he called the police several times and threatened to arrest them. 

The family later filed complaints against the police. One of the complaints, which was against the police’s violation of legal procedure and withholding their property, has been accepted by the local court. 

They also wrote to the Lanshan District Procuratorate, urging thea agency not to approve Ms. Gao’s arrest and to release her instead. But the prosecutor still indicted her.

Ms. Gao was tried by the Lanshan District Court on January 14, 2022. The judge rejected her family member’s application to defend her in court and also blocked them from attending the hearing, with the excuse they were listed by the police as witnesses against her. 

The judge sentenced Ms. Gao to 3.5 years on February 21, 2022. She has appealed the verdict.

Perpetrators’ contact information:
Li Qiang (李强), officer, Yucailu Police Station (has moved to Beiyuanlu Police Station): +86-13563985980, +86-539-7305064Liu Helei (刘合磊), officer, Lanshan District Domestic Security Office: +86-13953953278Liu Fang (刘芳), prosecutor, Lanshan District Procuratorate: +86-539-3012165Li Xiangyuan (李相元), judge, Lanshan District Court: +86-539-8321989, +86-15666190209

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