(Minghui.org) Five residents of Zhucheng City, Shandong Province were sentenced to prison on November 2, 2023 for their faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.

Ms. Li Yeshu, her husband Mr. Luo Bingxin, Ms. Xu Huancui, and Ms. Li Hongmei were arrested on February 26, 2022 while distributing Falun Gong informational materials. They were each sentenced to three years with four years probation, and fined 15,000 yuan.

Ms. Zheng Zhimei was arrested at home on March 2, 2022. She was sentenced to three years with five years probation. She was also fined 20,000 yuan.

A sixth practitioner, Ms. Li Mingxia, was arrested on March 3, 2022 and had her case combined with the aforementioned five practitioners. She stood trial with them on October 26, 2023, but did not show up at the sentencing hearing on November 2. The presiding judge ruled to clear her of prosecution, likely because she had filed a criminal complaint against him and requested that he be recused from the joint case.

Tortured in Detention

The arresting officers from the Zhucheng City Domestic Security Office took all six practitioners to the Zhucheng City Brainwashing Center, also known to the outside as the “Care Center,” after their arrests.

Three of the arresting officers, including vice captain Hao Xiaojun (+86-13176362101, +86-18678085908), Song Wei (+86-13563675666, +86-18678085708), and Su Lei (+86-18753665768, +86-18678085328) interrogated the practitioners with torture at the brainwashing center.

They hit Ms. Li Yeshu’s head, hands and body with a bamboo stick and also stomped on her. They then wrapped her hands with a wire connected to an electrical box, ordered her to sit on the ground, and turned on the switch to shock her. Her body was bounced up and down by the electric shock. Before she completely lost consciousness, she remembered someone stepping on her back against the ground.

Torture illustration: Electric shocks

Ms. Li Mingxia was slapped in the face by guard Song. Her face became swollen, her gums were bleeding, and she had a toothache for over a week. The police kept her restrained in a metal chair and interrogated her around the clock on two occasions, the first time for 23 days in a row and the second time for seven straight days without any breaks. During each marathon interrogation session, she had to sit in the chair day and night. The long-term sitting caused Ms. Li’s legs and feet to become extremely swollen.

The other arrested practitioners, except for Ms. Li Yeshu, were also tied in metal chairs, handcuffed and shackled.

Ms. Li Yeshu was released the day after her arrest, as she has a child with intellectual disabilities. The other five practitioners were released on April 19, 2022, after each posted a 20,000 yuan bail bond.

Indictment and Sentencing

The police submitted the joint case against the six practitioners to the Zhucheng City Procuratorate in March 2023. Five of the practitioners, except for Ms. Li Mingxia, then submitted to various government agencies the following documents:

- a criminal complaint against the arresting officers for violating legal procedures in arresting them, raiding their homes, and torturing them in detention;- a request for the procuratorate to provide an interpretation of the laws used to prosecute them; [The Supreme People’s Procuratorate issued a notice on June 8, 2017 requiring procuratorates at various levels to answer to the public’s inquiries on what laws have been used to handle cases.]- a request to exclude police-supplied evidence that had been illegally obtained through torture and coercion;- a request to not file indictments against the practitioners;- a request to lift the bail conditions and dismiss the case;- a request to re-authenticate the prosecution evidence that was examined and verified by police agencies [by law, only independent, third-party forensic agencies are authorized to authenticate prosecution evidence].

Prosecutors Song Yanmei (+86-18506362382) and Zhu Tong indicted the six practitioners and submitted the case to the Zhucheng City Court on August 11, 2023.

While awaiting trial, Ms. Li Mingxia submitted to the court and relevant government agencies the following documents:

- a criminal complaint against the arresting officers and the prosecutors for arresting and indicting her without any legal basis;- a request for the procuratorate to provide an interpretation of the laws used to indict her;- a request to exclude police-supplied evidence that had been illegally obtained through torture and coercion;- a request to withdraw the indictment against her and to dismiss her case;- a statement to nullify the “confession” she was deceived into giving during police interrogation;- a request to re-authenticate the prosecution evidence that was examined and verified by police agencies.

Presiding judge Zhu Yuewei (+86-18105363097, +86-536-6070275) said he’d respond to all of Ms. Li Mingxia’s requests during the court hearing on October 26, 2023. Ms. Li was unsatisfied with the answer, as she and other practitioners should never have been arrested in the first place. She proceeded to file a criminal complaint against judge Zhu and a request to recuse him from the case.

Judge Zhu ignored her and held a hearing on October 26, 2023. Ms. Li Mingxia lived away from home after the hearing to avoid possibly being sentenced. The police harassed her family in person and on the phone many times.

A sentencing hearing was held on November 2, 2023 and judge Zhu convicted Ms. Zheng, Mr. Luo, Ms. Xu, Ms. Li Hongmei, and Ms. Li Yeshu. Ms. Li Mingxia did not show up and judge Zhu then ruled to end prosecution of her.

Judges Wang Hai and Dong Qingli, assistant to judges Zheng Yunlong, as well as clerk Du Yuling, were also present during the practitioners’ trial.

Related reports:

Six Falun Gong Practitioners Tortured in a Shandong Brainwashing Center

Six Shandong Province Residents Interrogated and Held in Brainwashing Center for Practicing Falun Gong

Crimes Committed in Zhucheng Brainwashing Center in Weifang City, Shandong Province