(Minghui.org) Nine Weihai City, Shandong Province, residents stood trial on August 24, 2023 for their shared faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999. Minghui.org previously reported that three of them were sentenced to prison in late 2023. It was recently learned that the remaining six were also sentenced to prison. All nine are appealing their wrongful convictions with the Weihai City Intermediate Court. The current status of their appeal is not clear at this time.
Below are the practitioners’ names and prison sentences:
Ms. Tian Lisha was sentenced to nine years and fined 50,000 yuan.Ms. Qu Aiping was sentenced to three years and six months and fined 20,000 yuan.Ms. Li Shuhong was sentenced to two years and fined 10,000 yuan.Ms. Xu Changqing was sentenced to two years and fined 10,000 yuan.Mr. Zhang Yingming was sentenced to one year and three months and fined 8,000 yuan.Ms. Lian Qingling was sentenced to one year and three months and fined 8,000 yuan.Mr. Cong Xu was sentenced to nine months and fined 5,000 yuan.Ms. Liu Mingming was sentenced eight months and fined 4,000 yuan.Mr. Jiang Changmin was sentenced to six months and fined 3,000 yuan.
The nine practitioners are all employees of the local Wendeng City Tapestry Factory. Ms. Li and Ms. Tian are the wife and sister of the factory founder, Mr. Tian Shihong, who was persecuted to death at the age of 64 in November 2019 for practicing Falun Gong. Ms. Li and her daughter took over the business after Mr. Tian’s passing, with the former serving as the legal representative (every business in China is required to appoint a legal representative to act on behalf of the company) and the latter being the operations manager.
Over 200 police officers were dispatched to arrest the nine practitioners in the factory on July 20, 2022. Many structures in the garden-like factory were vandalized. The police also put up banners slandering Falun Gong everywhere in the factory. Each worker was interrogated by two officers. Some female workers cried in fear. Most of the practitioners also had their residences ransacked. A total of 1,312 Falun Gong books and magazines, 36240.52 yuan in cash, as well as computers, printers, and DVD burners were confiscated.
The Rongcheng City Procuratorate indicted the practitioners on December 28, 2022. They appeared in the Rongcheng City Court on August 24, 2023. The presiding judge kept interrupting and threatening the practitioners as they testified in their own defense.
Related Reports:
Nine Employees of a Tapestry Factory Stand Trial for Their Shared Faith in Falun Gong
Nine Employees of a Tapestry Factory Face Trial for Their Shared Faith in Falun Gong
Tapestry Factory Manager Dies After Years of Persecution for His Faith
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