(Minghui.org) A Langfang City, Hebei Province, resident, filed an appeal against a one-year prison sentence for her faith in Falun Gong and a complaint against her perpetrators.
Ms. Fu Xinhua was initially arrested on May 26, 2023 and detained until June 13, 2023. In the next 15 months, she was put under house arrest three times and twice on bail. She was indicted on November 7, 2024 and stood trial on December 9. She was sentenced at the end of the hearing and filed an appeal with the Langfang City Intermediate Court on December 19. The local detention center denied her admission as she failed the required physical examination. She was then sent home.
Ms. Fu also later filed a complaint against the police, the procuratorate, and the court for arresting, indicting, and sentencing her without any legal basis.
Arrest
Ms. Fu was dying her hair at home on May 26, 2023, when six agents suddenly broke in. One of them was in tactical gear, three were in police uniform, and two in plainclothes. They searched everywhere and Ms. Fu got hair dye smeared all over her face.
Ms. Fu learned later that the three agents in police uniforms were Li Jian, Xin Geng, and Ma Kaiyue, all from the Beishijiawu Police Station. The two plainclothes agents were from the Anci District Domestic Security Division. It is unclear who was the one in tactical gear. None of them showed their IDs or a search warrant during the raid. Nor did they issue a list of confiscated items as required by law. They, however, later made a search warrant and the list of confiscated items after the fact.
The police took Ms. Fu to the Beishijiawu Police Station and ordered her husband to drive his own car there. The couple were interrogated separately. The police showed Ms. Fu’s husband the interrogation record and ordered him to sign it. Before he did it, they said there was a mistake and produced another document. He noted the new document had the word “suspect” in there and refused to sign.
After holding the couple at the police station overnight, officer Li took them to a police hospital for a physical examination the next morning. They were then taken to a detention center. Ms. Fu’s husband was deemed unfit for detention and was released on bail.
Ms. Fu refused to put on inmates’ uniform and officer Li threatened to get her husband detained again. She had to share the same cell with more than 30 other people. They had to sleep on the same plank bed at night, leaving no room for movement. During the day, apart from eating and taking a group walk in the morning and afternoon, they were forced to sit on the bed during the rest of the time and not allowed to talk to each other. The lights in the cell were always on, and it was so crowded that Ms. Fu could not fall asleep at all.
Officer Li had promised to release Ms. Fu in seven days so she asked to be freed on the eighth day. A detention center guard taunted her, “Released in seven days? There is no date.” She then went on a hunger strike until she was released on June 13, 2023.
While Ms. Fu was still in the detention center, her daughter-in-law was summoned by officer Li. The younger woman later learned that she had been made a witness against her mother-in-law without her knowledge, just like her father-in-law.
Police Attempts to Take Her Back into Custody
On her day of release, June 13, 2023, Ms. Fu was taken to the Beishijiawu Police Station and put under house arrest. The Longhe Police Station was tasked with monitoring her.
On October 29, 2023, officer Li took Ms. Fu to his police station for interrogation. She refused to answer his questions. Another officer came on the afternoon of December 13, 2023 to lift her husband’s bail. She was not in. They returned in the evening to renew her house arrest for another six months.
Officer Li, together with auxiliary police officers Huo Zhenchao and Tian Yucong, took Ms. Fu for a physical examination on the morning of March 13, 2024. After that, they handcuffed her and drove her to a local detention center. The doctor there found she had high blood pressure and rapid heart rate. The detention center declined to admit her despite Li’s order. He then took her to the hospital, but doctors there gave the same results. He had no way, but to release her on bail.
When Ms. Fu condemned Li for breaking the law, he said: “Do I need to talk about the law with you?!”
Indictment
Li submitted the case to the Anci District Procuratorate on August 14, 2024. He and three other officers, including Huo, Tian, and a woman whose name was unknown, broke into Ms. Fu’s home the next day. They said they were there to take her to the procuratorate. She refused to go with them and the woman officer handcuffed her. The male officers dragged her to their cruiser.
Ms. Fu was restrained in a metal chair at the procuratorate. Prosecutor Xu Wenfang put her on bail that day and indicted her on November 7, 2024.
Li was later transferred to a different agency and replaced by Shen Shufang. Shen, Huo, Tian, and a woman officer showed up at Ms. Fu’s home on November 13. They handcuffed her and took her to the Anci District Court. Upon arrival, they had her stay in the car.
In the meantime, her husband and daughter-in-law were summoned to the court to sign her case file. Ms. Fu was then led into the court and judge Ding Xuan read aloud the indictment against her and announced to put her under house arrest.
The male officers then left. The woman officer asked judge Ding what to do with Ms. Fu. Ding said to let her go. The officer then removed the handcuffs and have Ms. Fu return home.
Trial
On the morning of December 9, 2024, Shen led Cao Zheng and a woman officer with unknown name and descended at Ms. Fu’s home. They refused to reveal where they were taking her. She refused to go with them and Shen instructed the other two officers to drag her to the cruiser.
They drove her to the Anci District Court. She asked them to send her home upon noticing they were at the courthouse. Shen said that her case was no longer his business as he was now formally turning her case over to the court. A group of bailiffs then showed up to grab her. She refused to go inside.
Three agents from the Anci District Domestic Division, including a woman captain surnamed Dong and two male officers, then showed up at the court. Dong said she’d introduce Ms. Fu to the court president so she could argue for her innocence. She believed Dong and went into the lobby with her.
Dong pointed at a person and told Ms. Fu to talk to him. The man led her towards a hallway and several bailiffs showed up and pushed her inside a courtroom. She saw it was packed already.
Judge Ding announced the trial’s beginning. Ms. Fu tried to defend herself but was stopped. Ding finally gave her a chance to speak but cut her off in just a few seconds. He ended the hearing in less than 30 minutes.
Ms. Fu was led out of the courtroom to wait somewhere. Ten minutes later, she was brought back inside the courtroom. Ding announced that she was sentenced to one year with a 1,000-yuan fine. The police then drove her to a local detention center, which declined to admit her after she was found to have high blood pressure. She was released at 8:30 p.m.
Appeal
Ms. Fu filed an appeal on December 19, 2024 and explained her rationale.
The prosecution evidence included the statements made by her husband and daughter-in-law, who were both deceived by the police and made a prosecution witness without their knowledge. The Falun Gong books and laptop confiscated from Ms. Fu’s home were also listed as evidence against her. No law, however, criminalizes Falun Gong.
The verdict listed Xu Jie, Zheng Wei, and Chen Ziran as witnesses who had seen Ms. Fu raising awareness of the persecution. None of them was in court to accept cross examination. Zheng was said to have seen an elderly lady toss DVDs, but the surveillance video played in court only showed someone put up self-adhesive signs. There was no footage of someone tossing DVDs. Chen was said to have found several Falun Gong flyers while cleaning an apartment staircase in March 2022, which happened 14 months before Ms. Fu’s arrest. He, however, didn’t see her pass out flyers.
The verdict also referenced a police document titled “Explanation of the Situation” as prosecution evidence. The “Explanation” was the police’s allegations against Ms. Fu. By law, only solid evidence may be admissible. Prosecutor Xu, however, allowed this police document to be prosecution evidence against Ms. Fu. Judge Li went on to sentence her for “using a cult organization to undermine law enforcement,” without specifying which law was used as the legal basis.
Related Report:
Hebei Woman Gets One Year for Putting Up Stickers Containing Falun Gong Information
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