76-year-old Woman Appeals Two-year Probation Sentence for Practicing Falun Gong

(Minghui.org) A 76-year-old woman in Kunming City, Yunnan Province, is appealing a two-year probation sentence for her faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Ms. Tong Xianzhen received the verdict from the Wuhua District Court on March 19, 2022. She has filed an appeal with the Kunming City Intermediate Court.

Latest Arrests

Seven officers knocked on Ms. Tong’s door at 11 p.m. on March 24, 2020, awakening her and her son. When she opened up, the officers barged in and started to search the place and arrest her, but her son, who demanded to see a warrant, stopped them.

A few officers left and returned with a search warrant. They confiscated Ms. Tong’s Falun Gong materials and took her to the local police station to interrogate her. She was released at around 5 a.m. the next morning.

The police returned on March 30 and took Ms. Tong to the hospital for a complete exam. She was forced to have a CT scan, X-rays, and ultrasound scans. She also had blood and urine tests.

After taking her home around midnight, the police came back on April 1 and took her to the police station to collect her fingerprints and take her photo.

Ms. Tong was taken to the local detention center at around 8 p.m. on April 1 but was denied admission. The police then ordered her children to pay a 3,000-yuan bail bond and released her.

Between April 24 and May 29, two groups of officers camped outside of Ms. Tong’s home and monitored her around the clock. They followed her wherever she went.

Indictment and Sentencing

Two Wuhua District Procuratorate employees went to Ms. Tong’s home in mid-June 2020 and announced that the review of her case would be extended by 15 days because it was so complex. The prosecutor had until July 5, 2020, to decide whether to indict her.

Ms. Tong received a call from the Wuhua District Court on July 3, the day after she was indicted, and was told to keep her cellphone with her, as they might summon her at any time.

She learned that the prosecutor had charged her with “undermining law enforcement using a cult organization,” a standard pretext used to criminalize Falun Gong practitioners. The prosecutor also accused her of committing an additional crime while still serving her previous probation term and said that she would be facing “combined punishment for several crimes.” Her Falun Gong books and materials confiscated from her home during her latest arrest on March 24, 2020, were included as prosecution evidence.

Ms. Tong appeared in court on May 13, 2021. Presiding judge Wang Qingtao delayed the hearing from 9:45 a.m. to 11 a.m. and adjourned it ten minutes later, as soon as Ms. Tong demanded to see the legal basis for the allegations against her. The bailiff removed her from the courtroom, giving her no chance to speak.

Judge Wang announced a verdict of guilty on March 19, 2022. He said that he gave Ms. Tong a one-year probation and a 2,000-yuan fine for the “new crime,” which was never clearly explained. Because she still had one year and four months left to serve and a 3,000-yuan fine to pay from her previous probation term, the judge combined both terms and rounded it up. The final verdict was two years’ probation with a 5,000-yuan fine.

Previous Arrest and Sentencing

The previous probation Ms. Tong was serving resulted from her earlier arrest on June 22, 2017. Her family paid a 5,000-yuan bail bond and she was released around midnight.

After the one-year bail expired on June 21, 2018, the police lifted the bail status but refused to return the bond, claiming that she’d violated certain bail conditions during that time. They declined to say what terms were violated but said she could file a motion with the Wuhua District Police Department if she didn’t agree with their decision.

Ms. Tong submitted the motion to the Wangjiaqiao Police Station and Wuhua District Police Department on July 4, 2018. The police returned the 5,000-yuan in late July that year.

Meanwhile, the police still refused to return her computer and other confiscated items and submitted her case to the Wuhua District Procuratorate, which then indicted her.

Ms. Tong appeared in the Wuhua District Court on April 19, 2019. On July 22 judge He Yan sentenced her to a two-year probation with a 3,000-yuan fine.

After she was arrested on March 24, 2020, judge Wang, who was in charge of her latest case, stopped the clock on her probation and added the remaining time to her latest verdict.

Appeal

In the appeal filed with the Kunming City Intermediate Court, Ms. Tong said that after she began to practice Falun Gong in 1998, all her ailments disappeared. She lives by the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and has always been a law-abiding citizen.

She noted that Zhuan Falun, the main text of Falun Gong, is one of the most translated Chinese books and is now available in over 40 different languages. People in over 100 countries and regions have benefitted from the practice, and all information about Falun Gong can be downloaded for free from the Internet.

All the Falun Gong materials distributed by practitioners like her contain stories of how practitioners strive to follow the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance in their daily lives and fulfill their responsibilities at home and in society. They also contain facts on how the communist regime has been persecuting Falun Gong and stories of families falling apart because of the persecution.

Ms. Tong argued that neither the prosecutor nor the trial court judge demonstrated how her practicing Falun Gong has violated the law or what harm she had caused to any individual, organization, or society. In fact, it is her constitutionally protected right to practice her faith.

Ms. Tong demanded that the appeals court judge hold an open hearing of her appeal case and exhibit the Falun Gong books and materials listed as prosecution evidence in court, saying it is up to the public to judge whether the literature had content that violated the law or undermined law enforcement.

She said that her previous two-year term of probation was illegal and groundless and even more unacceptable for the police to arrest her again for no reason and for the judge to hand down a new verdict of “combined punishment.”

“I’m just upholding my faith. How can I undermine the state’s law enforcement? In fact, those who deprive us of our spiritual beliefs are truly violating the constitution and undermining the law. After all these years of persecution, I don’t bear any hatred or resentment against the perpetrators. I just hope they can wake up to their conscience and no longer follow the regime in persecuting good people. The persecution of Falun Gong is suppressing kindness. Whoever opposes kindness will one day be brought to justice.”

Earlier Persecution

Since the onset of the persecution in 1999, Ms. Tong has been targeted multiple times for her continued practice of Falun Gong and for raising awareness about the persecution.

She was first arrested on the evening of October 9, 2002, while posting information about it. She was taken to Kunming No. 2 Detention Center and held for 42 days before being admitted to Yunnan Province Women’s Forced Labor Camps to serve a two-year term. The authorities later extended her term because she still refused to renounce her faith.

Ms. Tong was arrested again on September 21, 2007. The police ransacked her home. She was held in Guandu Detention Center for nine months and then sentenced to four years in prison. She was transferred to Yunnan Province No. 2 Women’s Prison on June 20, 2008.

While Ms. Tong was still in the detention center, her mother passed away in May 2008 after living with fear and mental distress for years because of the persecution. No one informed her of her mother’s death.

Perpetrators’ contact information:
Zhu Xianfu (朱显福), head of Wuhua Police Department: [phone]Zhao Hong (赵洪), head of Haiyuan Police Station: [phone]Yang Xi (杨曦), prosecutor of Wuhua District ProcuratorateWang Qingtao (王清涛), presiding judge of Wuhua District Court: [phone]Wei Kun (韦昆), judge of Wuhua District CourtZhang Yong (张永), judge of Wuhua District CourtWang Ying (王莹), clerk of Wuhua District Court

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

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