(Minghui.org) Two Jilin City, Jilin Province residents were recently sentenced to prison for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Li Wenhua, 60, and Ms. Liu Yinghua were seized during a mass arrest of local Falun Gong practitioners on June 4, 2023. The authorities from the 610 Office and police department in Jilin City dispatched a large number of agents and arrested more than 30 practitioners on the same day.
Ms. Li’s husband, Mr. Zheng Fengxiang, was also among the practitioners arrested. Their home was raided and personal items confiscated. While Mr. Zheng was released a day later, Ms. Li remained detained at Jilin City Detention Center. The authorities kept her family in the dark regarding her prosecution status and only allowed them to send clothes and make cash deposits for her.
Judge Li Zhongcheng of the Chuanying District Court held a hearing of Ms. Li’s case on December 4, 2023, without informing her family. He also ordered her family to pay 3,000 yuan in “court fines” even before she was convicted. On the same day, judge Li also called Ms. Liu’s family, saying that she had stood trial and would get a lighter sentence if her family paid 3,000 yuan in fines. It’s not clear whether the two families complied.
Ms. Li was sentenced to four years and taken to the Jilin Province Women’s Prison on January 25, 2024. Ms. Liu was sentenced to one year with one year probation. She was released on January 12, 2024.
In addition to these two practitioners, six other practitioners were arrested on the same day, including Ms. Jiang Ruihua, Ms. Yin Fuying, Ms. Wu Shunhua, Ms. Xia Guihua, Ms. Xu Min, and Ms. Lyu Shuzhen. They are still held in the Jilin City Detention Center and face prosecution.
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