(Minghui.org) Twelve Falun Gong practitioners in Zunhua City, Hebei Province were secretly sentenced on November 27, 2020 for their faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Wang Ruiling, 68, was sentenced to eight years and fined 10,000 yuan.Mr. Zhang Yuming, 65, was sentenced to seven years and fined 6,000 yuan.Mr. Wang Jian, 70, was sentenced to seven years and fined 5,000 yuan.Ms. Tian Shuxue, 82, was sentenced to five years and six months and fined 6,000 yuan.Ms. Zhang Qin, 78, was sentenced to four years and six months and fined 5,000 yuan.
The other seven practitioners, including Ms. Sheng Jinling, Ms. Lu Cuihua, Ms. Guo Shuhuan, Ms. Gao Jingru (Mr. Wang Jian’s wife), Ms. Lin Xiuzhen, Mr. Wang Kun and Mr. Ma Kuo, were given prison sentences of two to five years and fined between 2,000 and 5,000 yuan.
More than three hundred police officers were mobilized to round up the practitioners on July 6, 2019. A police chief revealed that they had monitored the practitioners’ cellphones for two months before making the move. A total of nineteen practitioners were arrested that day.
Ms. Wang Ruiling and her husband Mr. Ma Kuo were arrested at home around 3 a.m. The police ransacked their place and confiscated their Falun Gong books, laptop, printer, printing paper and all the cash they kept at home, including the money in their safe.
Mr. Wang Jian was also arrested around 3 a.m. A group of officers scaled their fence and broke in. Mr. Wang and his wife were woken up by a dog barking. The police immediately took Mr. Wang away and then ransacked the home. They returned in the afternoon and ransacked the home again.
At around 4 a.m., a group of officers scaled the fence around Ms. Lin Xiuzhen’s yard, broke into her home, and arrested her.
One of the twelve sentenced practitioners, Mr. Zhang Yuming, was arrested on July 2 for talking to people in a market about Falun Gong. Eight officers ransacked his home and confiscated his Falun Gong books, a photo of Falun Gong’s founder, several cellphones, two computers, a printer, and some printing paper.
The twelve practitioners were tried by the Zunhua City Court on December 17, 19 and 23, 2019, before being secretly sentenced.
Ms. Lin Xiuzhen’s husband, Mr. Xie Baoming, submitted a letter to the procuratorate and demanded the prosecutor drop her case. He is now almost desperate after receiving her verdict. Below is his letter.
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I’m Xie Baoming, Lin Xiuzhen’s husband. When I saw my wife being carried into the courtroom by two bailiffs and when she fainted during the hearing and was sent to the hospital for resuscitation, my heart trembled. Today, I’m writing to you and asking you to withdraw the indictment against her. Please allow the two of us, who are lonely and rely on each other’s company, to spend the rest of our lives together, and I will appreciate it forever.
Perhaps you are not aware, my wife would have died 22 years ago if she didn’t practice Falun Gong. Twenty-two years ago, our ten-year-old child was hit by a truck and died. The driver bribed the authorities, leaving us with no place to seek justice.
Our child’s death was a fatal blow to our family. My wife became insane and couldn’t live a normal life anymore. She smashed our TV, cooking pot, and windows. Everything was turned upside down and she completely lost hope to live. She cried every day and was on the verge of a total collapse. I felt I could lose my family at any second.
After a villager heard about our situation, she recommended Falun Gong to my wife. It’s this practice that helped my wife to gradually step out from her devastating pain and rekindled her hope for life. Since then, she has been studying Falun Gong every day and does the exercises. It has brought so much support to her.
She became a normal person again and also enjoys good health. Many people in our village witnessed her change and were amazed at the healing power of Falun Gong. Her changes aren’t something that can be bought by money. Falun Gong gave her a second life. I’m grateful from the bottom of my heart. Following Falun Gong’s principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance, my wife became a better person and treats everyone around her nicely.
But when I saw my wife in the court, I felt she returned to the same hopeless woman 22 years ago. My heart pains. For an elderly woman, what harm can she do to others? Does she violate the law just for having a few books at home that teach people to be good? Or did she violate the law just for sharing with people how she has benefitted from practicing Falun Gong?
I don’t practice Falun Gong myself and I’m just an ordinary man in society. I don’t know much about the law, but I do know that there is no law that criminalizes Falun Gong in China.
My respected prosecutor, during the six months of my wife’s detention, I've stayed at home by myself. I’m a man in my 70s. I’m facing enormous grief, distress and fear, which has taken a toll on my health. With severe diabetes and high blood pressure, I almost lost the ability to take care of myself and had to rely on my neighbors to bring food to me. Unable to leave home to see doctors, I could only invite doctors to my home to treat me.
This is the real situation about me. I’m desperate and have no other support to rely on. I truly hope you could consider our situation and withdraw the indictment against my wife. Give us, a family on the verge of collapsing, some hope and warmth and we will forever remember your kind act.
Xie Baoming, a helpless old man.
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