(Minghui.org) A Yangquan City, Shanxi Province, resident was recently sentenced to a two-year prison term for her faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Li Guilin was arrested on October 19, 2023. More than ten officers from the Kuang District Police Department broke into her husband Mr. Wang Zhongming’s workplace at 11 a.m. that day and asked if he posted a Falun Gong-related video online from his cell phone. He acknowledged that the video was posted from his phone but said he did not remember posting the video himself.
The police took Mr. Wang, who doesn’t practice Falun Gong, to his home. They snatched his key and opened the door. Ms. Li happened to be home and was arrested on the spot. The police confiscated her computer, printer, Falun Gong books, and informational materials.
Ms. Li was given 15 days of administrative detention at the Yangquan City Lockup before being put on criminal detention at the Yangquan City Detention Center on November 4, 2023.
Ms. Li appeared in the Pingding County Court on March 27, 2024. Her lawyer entered a not-guilty plea for her. He said that the prosecutor failed to present any evidence showing how Ms. Li had violated the law or caused harm to anyone. Her practicing Falun Gong was merely her personal belief, and her telling others about it also did not harm anyone.
The lawyer added that no law in China has ever criminalized Falun Gong. The General Administration of Press and Publication has long since lifted the ban on Falun Gong publications, in 2011.
Unable to refute the lawyer, the prosecutor claimed that Ms. Li’s cellphone retained the record of her sending Falun Gong videos and articles written by Falun Gong’s founder to seven people, including her daughter, a community worker, and five other people with unknown identities. Yet except Ms. Li’s daughter and the community worker, all other “witnesses” said they had no recollection of Ms. Li sharing the said videos with them. “If they can’t say for sure she did this [sending the videos], how can they be counted as witnesses in the case?” Ms. Li’s lawyer questioned the prosecutor.
In the final statement, Ms. Li asked the prosecutor to read out loud the articles written by Falun Gong’s founder that she sent to her daughter. “You can decide for yourself whether sharing such articles constitutes a crime. Please think about why Falun Gong practitioners have upheld their faith all these years despite the brutal persecution. We all know that practicing Falun Gong doesn’t violate the law and doesn’t cause any harm to anyone. What has happened to Falun Gong is a terrible injustice.”
The judge didn’t announce the verdict at the end of the hearing, but sentenced Ms. Li to a two-year prison term weeks later.