Beaten and Deceived by the Police, Jilin Woman Faces Trial for Her Faith in Falun Gong

(Minghui.org) A Jilin City, Jilin Province resident was beaten and interrogated after being arrested for her faith in Falun Gong. The police also deceived her into going to the Procuratorate to sign her case documents. She is now facing trial after the prosecutor indicted her and moved her case to the court.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Ms. Wang Chunling, 45, was arrested on January 3, 2022, after being reported for distributing informational materials about Falun Gong. When she refused to get into the police car, an officer kicked her and forced her into the vehicle.

Ms. Wang was held at the Xinghua Police Station for nearly 30 hours. When she refused to answer any questions, an officer slapped her in the face. Another one hit her in the abdomen and questioned her as to whether she believed in the Communist Party. She replied that she believes in Falun Gong’s teacher.

A young officer, Yang Zhongyu, ordered Ms. Wang to press her fingerprints on her case documents. When she refused, Yang summoned three more officers. Each of them held her arms and hands and attempted to force her to fingerprint the documents. One officer used so much force that he broke her thumb. Only then did they stop.

The next afternoon, the police grabbed Ms. Wang’s other hand and put her finger on the ink pad. Just as the police were forcing Ms. Wang’s hand to fingerprint the documents, Yang attempted to hit her hand. Ms. Wang managed to quickly pull her hand back, and Yang’s fist landed on the table so hard that a large patch of skin was abraded off. Yang also attempted to kick Ms. Wang’s leg, but to keep her balance, Ms. Wang stepped back right as she pulled her hand back, and Yang kicked the table leg and screamed in pain.

Yang took Ms. Wang to the restroom, where there was no surveillance camera. He slapped her in the face and hit her in the chest and shoulder. He also ordered her to recite Falun Gong poems for three minutes. Suspecting that he was trying to record her voice, either to fabricate evidence against her or use it for surveillance, she didn’t comply.

The police later found Ms. Wang’s information in their database, from an entry of an earlier arrest in 2020 and a ten-day detention. They called her husband, daughter and mother-in-law to confirm her identity and then took her to the Jilin City Detention Center. 

After three months of detention, Ms. Wang was released on bail on April 16, 2022. When they took her home, the police searched the place. They came back a few more times to harass her after that.

Indicted

Ms. Wang’s family received a call from officer Yang in January 2023. He said they were returning the 1,000-yuan bail bond the family paid for Ms. Wang and she should come to the police station to pick it up. 

Ms. Wang went there, only to be taken to the Changyi District Procuratorate by Yang. Prosecutor Li Xiaozhao ordered her to sign her case document and she refused. Li threatened her that she needed to make another trip to the procuratorate before they could return the money to her.

Yang called Ms. Wang again on February 6 and ordered her to report to the procuratorate. Ms. Wang went with her mother-in-law, but the older woman wasn’t allowed to go inside with her.

Li questioned Ms. Wang as to whether she pleaded guilty. She insisted that she didn’t violate any law and refused to sign anything. Meanwhile, her mother-in-law came into the room. She told Li that her daughter-in-law is a wonderful person who treats her mother-in-law very well. Li told them to go home and come back the next morning.

Ms. Wang returned to the procuratorate with her daughter the next day. Li directly took both of them to the Changyi District Court. Instead of returning the 1,000-yuan bail bond promised by the police, the court staff members ordered Ms. Wang to pay another 2,000 yuan and have her daughter sign her case document as a guarantor, or they would take her to the detention center. 

Fearing that Ms. Wang would be detained, her daughter gave her phone number to the court staff members and signed her family name “Chen” on the document. 

The court staff members gave Ms. Wang two notices. One of them was an indictment by the Changyi District Procuratorate. Prosecutor Li accused her of not pleading guilty and recommended a four-year prison sentence. The court also issued a bail condition for a year and ordered her to report to the court whenever she is summoned. Ms. Wang is prohibited from traveling out of town as well.

Perpetrators’ contact information:

Li Xiaozhao (李晓钊), prosecutor, Changyi District Procuratorate: [phone]Yang Zhongyu (杨忠禹), officer, Xinghua Police Station: [phone]

(More perpetrators’ contact information is available in the original Chinese article.)

Related report:

Jilin Woman Detained for Two Weeks and Counting for Distributing Falun Gong Materials