(Minghui.org) A woman in Jinzhou City, Liaoning Province, filed an administrative lawsuit against the Linghai City Police Department and the Linghai City Government on January 24, 2024, for failing to address her request to reconsider her ten-day detention in late 2023.
Ms. Cui Yaning was arrested outside her home on October 24, 2023, by agents from the Linghai City Police Department (Linghai is under the administration of Jinzhou City). The police targeted her because she mailed several letters to their chief urging him to stop participating in the persecution of Falun Gong, a mind-body practice based on the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.
The police held Ms. Cui for ten days of administrative detention but never gave her any official documentation, which included their written decision (as required by law regarding administrative penalties) and the list of items they’d confiscated from her. After she was released from the Jinzhou City Lockup, she went to the police department and managed to get a copy of both documents.
Because the police didn’t follow the law, Ms. Cui filed a reconsideration request with the Linghai City Government on December 18, 2023, demanding that it reconsider the administrative penalty levied by the police. She asked that the penalty be cleared from her record since the police failed to issue her the two documents mentioned above and produce legal basis to justify detaining her.
The Linghai City Government informed Ms. Cui on January 24, 2024, that it had decided to not process her reconsideration request because the Linghai City Police Department told them that her case was “classified” and not suitable for reconsideration.
Ms. Cui couldn’t believe that the police would use the “classified” explanation since the communist regime has been openly persecuting Falun Gong since July 1999. So she filed an administrative lawsuit with the Linghai City Court on January 24, 2024, naming the Linghai City Government and the Linghai City Police Department as co-defendants.
The Linghai City Court notified Ms. Cui on January 25, 2024, that she would have to separate her lawsuit into two cases. They would hear her lawsuit against the Linghai City Police Department but her lawsuit against the Linghai City Government would have to be filed with a higher court—the Jinzhou City Intermediate Court.
Ms. Cui consulted a legal expert and learned that Article 18 of the Administrative Litigation Law of the People’s Republic of China states that requests for administrative cases to be reconsidered may be handled by the people’s court at the location of the reconsidering entity. In Ms. Cui’s case, the reconsidering entity, the Linghai City Government, is located in Linghai so the Linghai City Court could hear her case against the Linghai City Government, too.
It is unclear whether Ms. Cui has taken further action to appeal the Linghai City Court’s decision to not accept her case against the Linghai City Government.
Latest Arrest
Ms. Cui had just left home at around 2 p.m. on October 24, 2023, when one woman and four men stopped her. The woman flashed her police ID so quickly that Ms. Cui couldn’t see it clearly.
The agents said that they were Linghai City Police Department officers investigating to see if Ms. Cui had written letters to their chief urging him to stop persecuting Falun Gong. She said she had but that she had done nothing wrong since no law in China deems Falun Gong a crime.
When Ms. Cui refused to go with them, they threatened to arrest her and raid her home because they had a search warrant with them.
Ms. Cui did not want the police to terrorize her elderly mother who lived with her, so she went with them to the Dalinghe Police Station, which is under the Linghai City Police Department. A female officer searched her and confiscated a few items.
During the interrogation, the police produced several letters that Ms. Cui had mailed to their chief. They acknowledged that it was totally legal for citizens to write letters to government officials, including their chief, but they insisted that writing things about Falun Gong was illegal. They gave her ten days of administrative detention and took her to the Jinzhou City Lockup around 10 p.m.
Past Persecution: Two Forced Labor Terms and One Prison Term Totaling 12.5 Years
Ms. Cui credits Falun Gong for curing her insomnia, stomachaches, fatigue, and arthritis, but for over 20 years she has been repeatedly targeted for upholding her faith.
Ms. Cui was twice given forced labor (two years from October 15, 1999, to October 14, 2001, and 3.5 years from December 28, 2001, to June 7, 2005) and served seven years in prison from February 25, 2008 to February 24, 2015.
Her employer, a semiconductor factory, fired her on July 18, 2000, while she was serving her first forced labor term. Less than a month after she was released, her husband divorced her in November 2001 and was given custody of their son. After she reached retirement age, she was denied her pension because of her repeated arrests for practicing Falun Gong.
For details of Ms. Cui’s past persecution, see the reports below.
Related Article in Chinese:
Related Reports:
Woman Loses Family and Retirement Benefits After 12 Years of Imprisonment for Her Faith
Ms. Cui Yaning Arrested Again Following Two Stays in a Forced Labor Camp
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