(Minghui.org) A 35-year-old resident of Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province was admitted to the Heilongjiang Province Women’s Prison on June 28, 2023, after losing her appeal against a two-year sentence with a 100,000-yuan fine for practicing Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Ms. Wang Jian’s parents received a call from the Yilan County Court’s Judgment Enforcement Division on October 26, 2023, urging them to pay the court fine by the end of the month or her house would be seized and sold.
The elderly couple said that they paid for the house, as their daughter couldn’t afford to buy the house herself. The caller said that it was not the court’s business to sort out who financed the purchase. He emphasized that as long as Ms. Wang was the legal owner of the house, the court could force the sale of the house to pay the judgment.
Mr. Wang’s father has been struggling to earn extra money to make deposits into her prison commissary account. The pressure to pay her court fine further placed him under great duress.
It is unclear whether Mr. Wang’s parents have managed to pay her fine before the end of October.
Arrest, Sentencing, and Appeal
Ms. Wang, an assistant communications engineer for the Harbin Railway Bureau, was arrested on July 11, 2022, on her way to work. Her laptop, printer, Falun Gong books, and cell phone were confiscated. The arresting officers were from the Railway Police Department, the Bin County Domestic Security Office, and Shengli Street Police Station.
Wang Chenglong, the police officer from the Shengli Street Police Station in charge of her case, revealed that they had been monitoring her for a long time before the arrest.
Ms. Wang was detained at the Harbin City No. 2 Detention Center. Her arrest was approved by the Yilan County Procuratorate on July 20. The police submitted her case to the procuratorate on August 26, and she was indicted on September 26.
Her parents applied to be her non-lawyer defenders, but didn’t get approved by the Yilan County Court until they made numerous requests. Still they were not allowed to visit her at the detention center; hence they were unable to obtain the necessary information to defend her to the best of their abilities.
The Yilan County Court scheduled a hearing of Ms. Wang’s case for December 2, 2022, but canceled it due to a local COVID-19 outbreak. When the hearing finally took place on March 6, 2023, the judge did not allow her lawyer and parents to mention the words “Falun Gong” at all.
Ms. Wang was sentenced to two years and fined 100,000 yuan three days later. She filed an appeal with the Harbin City Intermediate Court on April 18.
Ms. Wang’s parents received an express mail from the intermediate court on May 25, notifying them that the court had rejected their request to have an open hearing for her appeal case and ruled to uphold the original verdict.
Ms. Wang’s employer suspended her pay and stopped making contributions to her employee benefits (including group insurance and pension) after she was arrested in July 2022. Her parents received a notice in late June 2023 that her job was terminated.
Related reports:
Communications Engineer Loses Appeal Against Wrongful Prison Sentence
Communications Engineer Sentenced to Two Years for Her Faith
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