(Minghui.org) Two women in Weihai City, Shandong Province, were recently sentenced to prison, one to three years and the other to four, for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Jiao Guichun, 62, and Ms. Wang Ce were arrested on June 19, 2021, after being reported for talking to people about Falun Gong at a community market. The police interrogated them and threatened to sentence them to from three to seven years. Both were forced to sign statements to renounce Falun Gong. Their families also signed their bail release documents.
Before releasing the two women on the same day, the police raided their homes and confiscated everything related to Falun Gong.
Although the police promised to not prosecute them, they began to harass Ms. Jiao on February 23, 2022, and ordered her to come to the Domestic Security Office to sign more documents. They went to Ms. Wang’s home on March 2 and ordered her to sign similar documents. When she refused to comply, the police forced her family to sign the paperwork on her behalf. The police later submitted both practitioners’ cases to the Rongcheng City Procuratorate.
Ms. Jiao and Ms. Wang were summoned to the Procuratorate in May 2022. Prosecutor Sun Xiaoming said their cases were very serious and that they would definitely be sentenced.
Two months later on July 12, the Rongcheng City Court ordered the women to appear before them to sign their indictments. They were summoned to the court two more times, on July 28 and August 2. The judge repeatedly told them that their cases were very serious.
The police arrested Ms. Wang at home on September 27, 2022. She was sentenced to three years.
To avoid being persecuted, Ms. Jiao stayed away from home for five months to hide from the police. Due to frequent police harassment, her husband suffered a mental breakdown. After he tested positive for COVID-19, Ms. Jiao returned home to care for him. Threatened by the police, her family turned her in to the police on March 2, 2023. She was then transferred to the Wendeng City Detention Center. It’s recently confirmed by Minghui.org that she has been sentenced to four years.
This isn’t the first time that Ms. Jiao has been targeted for her faith. The police broke into her home on October 11, 2007, confiscating her computer, two printers, and Falun Gong books and informational materials. Her ID, driver’s license, cellphone, and a jeep (which was later returned) were also seized. Because Ms. Jiao wasn’t home when the police came, she escaped being arrested but had to live away from home for the next two years to avoid the persecution.
Not long after she returned home, the police came and arrested her on April 7, 2009. Her new laptop and printer were confiscated. After one month in a detention center and two weeks in a lockup, she was transferred to the Wangcun Forced Labor Camp to serve a two-year term.
Zhang Xinfeng (张欣枫), president of the Rongcheng City Court: +86-631-7592368, +86-631-7562811Wang Dongmei (王冬梅), judge, Rongcheng City Court: +86-18660387562Liu Haibo (刘海波), president of the Rongcheng City Procuratorate: +86-15666301801, +86-631-3012101Li Yanzong (李延宗), prosecutor, Rongcheng City Procuratorate: +86-15606316278, +86-631-3012159Sun Xiaoming (孙小明), prosecutor, Rongcheng City Procuratorate: +86-631-3012129, +86-631-3632936, +86-631-3012157Wang Ling (王凌), director of the Wendeng City Domestic Security Office: +86-15588338156
(More perpetrators’ contact information is available in the original Chinese article.)