(Minghui.org) A mother and daughter in Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province were both sentenced to two and a half years and fined 10,000 yuan on September 27, 2023, for practicing Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Ms. Liu Peng, 61, and her daughter, Ms. Wang Bingcheng, were arrested at their shared home in Chang’an District, Shijiazhuang City, on October 9, 2021, by more than ten officers from the local Tangu Police Station and the Chang’an District Police Department. The police interrogated them at a hotel for a few days, during which time officials from the local Political and Legal Affairs Committee (an extra-judicial agency tasked with overseeing the persecution of Falun Gong) showed up multiple times to extract “confessions.”
The mother and daughter were later moved to the Tangu Police Station. Captain Lyu Huaifeng and vice captain Wang Chunshou of the Chang’an District Police Department submitted their case to the Chang’an District Procuratorate, which then forwarded it to the Qiaoxi District Procuratorate. Prosecutor Li Sujuan indicted both mother and daughter.
Ms. Liu and Ms. Wang were later transferred to the Shijiazhuang City Second Detention Center, where they remain as of the time of writing.
Judge Li Lixin of the Qiaoxi District Court initially barred their family defender from representing them in court, but he relented after the family defender filed a complaint against him.
During a court hearing on March 14, 2023, the defense attorneys requested that Judge Li be recused from the case. He adjourned the session immediately and rescheduled the hearing for April 13. Ms. Liu and Ms. Wang’s family defender and two lawyers entered not-guilty pleas for them during the second hearing. The mother and daughter also testified in their own defense. Judge Li convicted them on September 27.
Past Persecution
Ms. Liu took up Falun Gong after witnessing its miraculous effect on her husband, Mr. Wang Xinggui. While studying for a Doctorate in Harbin (the capital of Heilongjiang, China’s northernmost province), Mr. Wang would catch a cold every year and take over a month to recover. After he began practicing Falun Gong in late 1994, he no longer suffered from his chronic cold and also recovered from other ailments. He became a professor at the People’s Liberation Army Ordnance Engineering College (PLAOEC) in Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province after obtaining his PhD degree. He advised masters’ and doctoral students, on top of his teaching, research, and service activities. He said practicing Falun Gong made his mind much sharper and he excelled in everything at work.
Amazed by Mr. Wang’s changes, Ms. Liu also took up the practice of Falun Gong. Their daughter Ms. Wang soon followed along as well and excelled in her studies.
After the persecution of Falun Gong began in 1999, the family of three were targeted for holding firm to their faith. While distributing Falun Gong informational materials at the College one December day in 2000, Ms. Liu was arrested by the school’s public safety officers. They held her on campus for one night and also searched her home.
The school established a special task force to monitor Ms. Liu and Mr. Wang. They installed surveillance cameras outside the couple’s home and dispatched people to follow them when they went out.
The couple were arrested by the school’s public safety officers on the morning of November 2, 2005. After their daughter left for school after lunch (many students return home for lunch in China), the public safety officers and agents from the couple’s local police station raided their home and confiscated a computer, a router, and a Falun Gong book.
After being held at the school’s public safety department for one night, the couple were taken to the Hebei Province Legal Education Center, a brainwashing center in disguise.
Mr. Wang was not allowed to step outside to see the sun during his detention. He was emaciated and had aged significantly by the time he was released on September 28, 2006. His school called him on a regular basis to pressure him to give up his belief. They eventually forced him to retire from the military (employees of the military school were considered servicemen).
Mr. Wang died in a car accident while out of town in 2012. Ms. Liu’s employer initially declined to give her time off but relented upon her insistence. However, they kept harassing her on the phone after she took care of her husband’s funeral. Nonetheless, she and her daughter remained steadfast in their faith in Falun Gong.
Related reports:
Procuratorate and Court in Qiaoxi District in Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province Actively Prosecute Falun Gong Cases
Fifteen Falun Dafa Practitioners Tortured in Shijiazhuang City's Second Detention Center
Many Falun Gong Practitioners Involved with the oGate Software Arrested in China
Eleven Falun Gong Practitioners Detained in Shijiazhuang Second Detention Center, Two in Critical Condition
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