(Minghui.org) A 57-year-old woman in Daqing City, Heilongjiang Province, has filed an appeal after she was sentenced to 1.5 years for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since July 1999.
Ms. Zhao Li was arrested at home on July 12, 2022, by officers with the Daqing City Domestic Security Office. She was indicted by the High-tech Development Zone Procuratorate on November 13, 2022.
The High-tech Development Zone Court tried Ms. Zhao on December 1, 2022, and sentenced her to 1.5 years on December 14. She appealed with the Daqing City Intermediate Court on January 6, 2023. She is now in the Daqing City No.2 Detention Center.
Ms. Zhao took up Falun Gong in October 1997 and she credits the practice for curing her insomnia, headaches, and a heart condition.
In September 1999, two months after the persecution started, Ms. Zhao’s employer suspended her for three months and only gave her 200 yuan a month to cover her basic living expenses. Then they fired her and forced her to accept a buyout agreement.
Ms. Zhao was arrested in a grocery store on October 22, 2002. The police restrained her in a metal chair. She suffered a heart attack and passed out. The police took her to the hospital but gave orders not to treat her unless her family paid first. Only when her husband came 50 minutes later and paid did the police instruct the hospital to admit her.
Several officers arrested Ms. Zhao again on June 4, 2003. They covered the peephole on her door and attempted to deceive her into letting them in. Not wanting to be arrested, Ms. Zhao jumped out of the window of her third-floor apartment and suffered multiple fractures to her arms, wrists, back, hips, ankles, and feet.
Li Jingfu (李景富), head of Lindian Police Department: +86-13836730112Qin Yurong (秦余荣), prosecutor, High-tech Development Zone ProcuratorateYan Guanhua (闫冠华), judge, High-tech Development Zone CourtYang Jing (杨晶), judge, Daqing City Intermediate Court
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