(Minghui.org) Having become disabled due to toxic injection while serving time for practicing Falun Gong, a 65-year-old woman is facing prison sentence again for her faith.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Bian Lihua, of Benxi City, Liaoning Province, was arrested at home on April 22, 2022 by eight officers of the Qianjin Police Station. Only one officer wore the police uniform. They raided her place without a search warrant. She demanded to know who they were, the officer in police uniform quickly flashed his ID while standing over three feet away. Ms. Bian’s collection of over 80 Falun Gong books, laptop, music player and other personal items were confiscated.
Another practitioner, Ms. Ma Xiusan, 81, who happened to be at Ms. Bian’s home, was also arrested. The police took Ms. Ma to her own home and ransacked her place as well.
The Xihu District Court notified Ms. Bian and Ms. Ma on July 20, 2023 that they had been indicted by the Xihu District Procuratorate. The indictment stated that they were put on house arrest on April 22, 2022 and then placed on bail on October 21, 2022. And the Pingshan Police Department submitted their cases to the Xihu District Procuratorate on March 9, 2023.
Both women said no one ever informed them that they had been placed on house arrest or bail. They also noticed that no prosecutor signed their indictments, which only bore an official seal of the procuratorate.
Ms. Bian’s legal representative later confirmed with the procuratorate that the prosecutor in charge of her case was Heng Liyuan and she was indicted on July 17, 2023. Judge Wang Mian of the Xihu District Court had been assigned to her case.
Judge Wang went to Ms. Bian’s home with a lawyer around mid-October and informed her that she was scheduled to appear in court on October 26. It’s not clear whether the hearing has indeed taken place at the time of writing. It’s also not known whether Ms. Ma was subjected to court trial.
Disabled During an Earlier Labor Camp Term
Ms. Bian was given three years of forced labor in 2001. She held a hunger strike to protest and was injected with nerve-damaging drugs. Six months after she was released, she began to have excruciating pain in her lower body. Gradually, she couldn’t bend her legs and her soles couldn’t touch the ground.
Ms. Bian was arrested again on July 21, 2014. Her Falun Gong books, laptop, printer and over 40,000 yuan in cash were confiscated. She was held in Benxi City Detention Center and sentenced to 1.5 years by the Pingshan District Court in 2015.
Previous Prison Sentenced of Ms. Ma
Ms. Ma, then 77, was previously arrested on January 21, 2019 when she went to the Benxi City Detention Center to make a cash deposit for an incarcerated Falun Gong practitioner. She started a hunger strike to protest the persecution on February 7 and was taken to the Jinshan Hospital. The Pingshan District Court held a hearing of her case on February 21, 2019. As the judge didn’t inform her lawyer at least three days in advance according to the law, her lawyer wasn’t able to attend the hearing to defend her. She was later sentenced to three years.
Related article in Chinese:
https://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2023/8/4/辽宁本溪马秀三和边立华被暗箱构陷至法院-463778.html
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