(Minghui.org) The families of four Zhucheng City, Shandong Province residents confirmed on October 30, 2023 that their loved ones had been taken to the Shandong Province Women’s Prison on October 24 to serve time for their shared faith in Falun Gong.
The four practitioners, including Ms. Sun Peiying, 54, Ms. Chi Guilan, 74, Ms. Chen Xiulan, 59, and Ms. Liu Zhaoqing, 63, were arrested on June 29, 2021, along with a fifth practitioner, Ms. Ma Shuyan, 61. They were all released on bail in a few days and sentenced to prison on April 14, 2023.
Ms. Sun and Ms. Chi were each sentenced to 1.5 years and fined 4000 yuan. Ms. Liu and Ms. Chen were each given one year and two months with a 3,000-yuan fine. Ms. Ma was sentenced to one-year of probation and fined 2,000 yuan. Ms. Sun, Ms. Chi, Ms. Liu, and Ms. Chen were taken back into custody at an unknown time after losing their appeal on June 25 and admitted to prison on October 24. Ms. Ma is serving probation outside of prison.
Ms. Sun and Ms. Liu were admitted to the Changyi City Lockup the day after their arrests. The other three practitioners were denied admission because they failed the required physical exam. They were taken back to Zhucheng and released on 10,000-yuan bail at around 6 p.m. on July 2, 2021.
The Zhucheng City Domestic Security Office submitted the five practitioners’ cases to the Zhucheng City Procuratorate, which returned the cases to the police citing insufficient evidence.
In China, usually the jurisdiction where a suspected crime takes place handles the case, but occasionally a different jurisdiction may be allowed to take over. Given this, the Zhucheng police submitted the practitioners’ cases to the Gaomi City Procuratorate (Gaomi City is about 50 miles from Zhucheng and both are under the jurisdiction of Weifang), which proceeded to indict the practitioners.
The Gaomi City Court initially set a court date for September 28, 2022, but postponed it until March 24, 2023. Judge Shan Baojun presided over the hearing. Prosecutors Pan Honghui and Yao Minmin, and their assistant Xu Wenbin, were present.
The five practitioners and their family defenders refuted the allegations against them, namely, “using a cult organization to undermine law enforcement,” the standard pretext used by the communist regime to frame and imprison Falun Gong practitioners.
Judge Shan allowed the five practitioners to go home after the hearing. He convicted them on April 14, 2023. All five filed appeals. The Weifang City Intermediate Court ruled on June 25, 2023 to uphold the original verdicts.
Ms. Sun took up Falun Gong in 1997. Most of the ailments she had been struggling with for years, including rheumatoid arthritis, neck problems, gynecological diseases, and rhinitis, disappeared within six months. As she remained firm in Falun Gong in the face of the persecution, she was harassed, arrested, detained, and had her home ransacked prior to her latest prison sentence.
Ms. Chen began practicing Falun Gong in 2006, and she also credits the practice for returning her to health.
Both Ms. Chi and her husband are grateful to Falun Gong for improving their health as well. Ms. Chi’s intense headaches, severe lumbar disc herniation, frequent vaginal bleeding, and arm pain, as well as her husband’s viral pleurisy, all disappeared shortly after they learned the Falun Gong exercises and read the books.
Zhucheng City, Shandong Province: Five Sentenced to Prison for Their Shared Faith in Falun Gong