Five Shandong Residents Sentenced to 1.5 to 8 Years for Practicing Falun Gong

(Minghui.org) Five Shandong residents were recently sentenced to prison by the Wulian County Court for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Ms. Li Fengying was sentenced to 8 years with a 20,000 yuan fine.Mr. Wang Hongwu was sentenced to 4.5 years with an 8,000 yuan fine.Ms. Yang Mingzhen was sentenced to 4 years with a 10,000 yuan fine.Ms. Zheng Yunmei was sentenced to 4 years with an 8,000 yuan fine.Ms. Wang Shihua was sentenced to 1.5 years with a 5,000 yuan fine.

Ms. Yang is a native of Weifang City but had been living in Wulian County, which is under the administration of Rizhao City, to avoid police harassment. The other four practitioners are all Wulian locals.

Ms. Li and Ms. Zheng were first arrested on October 10, 2022, after being reported by a fruit vendor for talking to him about Falun Gong. The police ransacked both women’s homes and confiscated their Falun Gong books, informational materials, laptop, and printer.

Later in the day, the police also arrested Mr. Wang, Ms. Wang, and Ms. Yang. All five practitioners were interrogated in the police station and then taken to the Rizhao City Detention Center.

The Wulian County Court held a joint hearing of the practitioners’ cases on April 28, 2023. Two lawyers entered a not-guilty plea for them. The lawyers also pointed out that the police raided their clients’ homes without proper search warrants and they also failed to verify confiscated items with their clients. Some practitioners were also intimidated while being interrogated.

The court held a second joint hearing on May 8. The prosecutor was unable to provide solid evidence to show how the practitioners had violated the law, but the judge still convicted them seven days later on May 15.

Perpetrators’ contact information:

Guan Suwei (官素伟), prosecutor of Wulian County Procuratorate: [phone]Zheng Lei (郑雷), presiding judge of Wulian County Court: [phone], [phone]Fan Jun (范军), judge of Wulian County Court: [phone]