(Minghui.org) Two Baoding City, Hebei Province, residents were sentenced to prison for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Ms. Zhang Ximei, a 58-year-old retired worker, was sentenced to three and a half years and fined 10,000 yuan. Mr. Zhi Zhanmin, 55, received three years and a 10,000-yuan fine.
Ms. Zhang and Mr. Zhi were arrested on April 9, 2024, during a police sweep of local Falun Gong practitioners. The Jingxiu District Procuratorate issued formal arrest warrants for them in late May 2024 and forwarded their cases to the Gaoyang County Procuratorate.
The Gaoyang County Court tried Ms. Zhang at the Baoding City Detention Center on November 13, 2024. Judge Li Zhiyong presided over the trial. Prosecutor Yang Fan was also present. Ms. Zhang testified in her own defense and her lawyer and family defender also demanded her acquittal.
The same judge Li heard Mr. Zhi’s case on December 10, 2024 and February 11, 2025, also at the Baoding City Detention Center. Mr. Zhi’s lawyer and family defender refuted the allegations that prosecutor Yao Suling levied against him. Mr. Zhi also emphasized that he broke no law by exercising his constitutional right to freedom of belief.
Li sentenced Mr. Zhi and Ms. Zhang at an unknown time. Both practitioners filed appeals with the Baoding City Intermediate Court.
Prior to her latest arrest, Ms. Zhang was sentenced to three years and two months in November 2019 after she was arrested in January 2019. She was arrested in October 2022 together with ten other practitioners prior to the 20th Party Congress and she was detained for ten days. Her family was intimidated by officers from the Tianwei Police Station after her latest arrest.
Mr. Zhi was previously arrested in 2005 and sentenced to 12 years for intercepting a TV signal to broadcast information about Falun Gong, as a way to raise awareness about the persecution due to the strict censorship in China. His heavy sentence traumatized his parents and they passed away while he was incarcerated. His older sister Ms. Zhi Ping, who served a forced labor camp term for practicing Falun Gong, also died in 2014 at the age of 41.
When Mr. Zhi was released in 2017, he relied on help from a sister and found a job doing house renovations. Just as his life started to return to normal, he was arrested again on April 9, 2024, by officers from the Xinshichang Police Station. According to his roommate who shared the apartment with him, the police broke in with Mr. Zhi’s key, forced his roommate to leave, and ransacked the place.
Related Reports:
Baoding City, Hebei Province: Five Falun Gong Practitioners Detained for Two Months and Counting
The Intermediate Court in Baoding City Unreasonably Affirms Illegal Sentences of Dafa Practitioners
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