(Minghui.org) Two residents of Sujiatun District, Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, were sentenced to prison for their shared faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Ms. Wang Wei, 68, was given four years, and Ms. Zhao Xilan, 66, received one year. Ms. Wang has filed an appeal.
The two women were arrested on July 12, 2024 and stood trial at the Hunnan District Court on November 22, 2024. They were notified of their verdicts on January 10, 2025.
During the hearing, Ms. Wang’s two lawyers entered a not guilty plea for her. She also testified against the police for violently arresting her and refuted the allegations against her. She emphasized that she broke no law in exercising her constitutional right to freedom of belief.
Ms. Zhao, who had a court-appointed lawyer, also demanded an acquittal, as no law in China criminalizes Falun Gong. She appeared emaciated, with a pale face. Ms. Zhao revealed that she had been forced to take hypertension medications since her arrest. It’s not clear whether she had high blood pressure.
Both women are likely still held at the Shenyang City First Detention Center at the time of writing.
Details of Arrests and Indictment
Ms. Wang and Ms. Zhao were both arrested on July 12, 2024, by officers from the Sujiatun District Domestic Security Division and the Jiefang Police Station. Their arrests stemmed from an incident in 2020 when they were briefly detained for distributing Falun Gong materials but were later released on bail. See the second related report for details of Ms. Wang’s latest arrest. The police claimed that they were working to close the 2020 cases.
Prosecutor He Mengyao of the Hunnan District Procuratorate issued formal arrest warrants for Ms. Wang and Ms. Zhao in September 2024. She indicted the two practitioners not long afterwards and forwarded their cases to the Hunnan District Court on October 21.
Ms. Wang’s family made an inquiry on October 25 and learned that judge Hao Xiaoli had been assigned to the case. They contacted Hao on October 28 but she claimed that she had not received the cases. The very next day, however, she told the family that she set a court date for November 8, leaving very little time for the defense lawyer to prepare materials.
Ms. Wang’s two lawyers submitted three documents to judge Hao, including a request to copy the key case information, a request to release their client on bail, and a request to exclude evidence illegally gathered by the police.
Regarding the bail request, Ms. Wang’s lawyers pointed out that she was found to have stroke symptoms and hypertension after her latest arrest but the police refused to release her, resulting in her having a fainting episode while she was in custody.
Hao rejected the request and also ignored a fourth request that the lawyers later submitted, namely, to host a pre-trial hearing. For some unknown reason, Hao notified the lawyers on November 6 that she had rescheduled the hearing for November 22, 2024.
Related Reports:
Two Liaoning Women to Stand Trial for Practicing Falun Gong
67-Year-Old Liaoning Woman Faces Indictment for Her Faith, Remains Detained Despite Fainting Episode
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