Heilongjiang Woman Secretly Sentenced to Six Years

(Minghui.org) A Jiamusi City, Heilongjiang Province resident was secretly sentenced to six years in prison for her faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999. 

Ms. Xie Wei’s family learned about her verdict in July 2021, after receiving a call from the Heilongjiang Province Women’s Prison that she has been taken there. The prison denied Ms. Xie’s family visitation and only allowed her family to make cash deposits for her. 

Ms. Xie Wei

Ms. Xie, 58, was arrested on July 27, 2019, when the police broke into her home as soon as her family came back. Over 30 Falun Gong books, two cellphones, a laptop, a speaker, an mp3 player and other personal belongings were confiscated. The police refused to provide any information about the reason for the arrest and only told her family that they were with the Shunhe Police Station. Ms. Xie was dragged to the police car and taken to the police station for interrogation. 

Ms. Xie was not the only one targeted for her faith. Within a few weeks of her arrest, at the command from the Public Security Bureau in Heilongjiang Province, the police in Jiamusi arrested at least 52 other practitioners and harassed more than a hundred. Many practitioners were forced to live away from home.

Mr. Yang Shengjun died nine days after his arrest on August 2. Ms. Dong Huanxiu’s father-in-law was so terrified by the police during her arrest on July 27 that he passed away five days later. Ms. Fan Guiqin’s 82-year-old bedridden husband also died in despair, several months after the arrest of his wife, who was his sole caregiver.

Ms. Xie was held at the Jiamusi Detention Center after her arrest. The police submitted her case to the Xiangyang District Procuratorate on November 8, 2019. Her family then hired a lawyer for her, who frequented the police station and procuratorate to demand her release, but to no avail. 

A prosecutor visited Ms. Xie in the detention center in mid-June 2020 and gave her a copy of her indictment. He also indicated that a hearing was scheduled in early August. 

Between July 31 and August 4, 2020, Ms. Xie’s lawyer kept calling judge Song Tao to get information about her hearing. The judge refused to answer his call, accept his Power of Attorney or allow him to review her case document. To date, Ms. Xie’s lawyer still doesn’t know any details of her court proceedings.

Past Persecution

Ms. Xie, a retired paper factory worker, used to suffer uterine fibroids and severe bleeding. Only 20 days after she started to practice Falun Gong in 1996, her condition disappeared. Her many other ailments, including heart and liver problem and high blood pressure, were also cured.

After the persecution began, Ms. Xie was targeted for holding fast to her faith. In January 2007, Li Dawei and Shang Hongjun of the Shunhe Police Station broke into her convenience store and arrested her. Her home was turned upside down in the raid. 

The police extorted 11,000 yuan from her husband, and Ms. Xie was released after 11 days of detention at the Jiamusi City Lockup. Since then, the police often harassed her at her store. 

Ms. Xie was arrested again on April 5, 2009 for distributing informational materials about Falun Gong in a residential area. At the Qianjin Police Station, the police slapped her twice in the face. Her left cheek became numb and her ears were ringing. In the middle of the night, she was taken to the Jiamusi City Detention Center and given an 18-month term at the Xigemu Forced Labor Camp seventeen days later. 

Ms. Xie’s next arrest was on February 23, 2016, also for distributing Falun Gong materials. Four officers of the Shunhe Police Station threw her into the police car, causing sprain in her neck and back. After she was taken to the police station, the police left her on the floor. An officer named Guan Zhen kicked her shoulder and said, “We will have to sentence you even if we have to spend some money.” Ms. Xie was later sentenced to 1.5 years and fined 5,000 yuan, which her family refused to pay.

Perpetrators’ contact information:
Heilongjiang Women’s Prison: [phone], [phone], [phone]Li Lifeng (李利锋), prosecutor of Xiangyang District Procuratorate: [phone], [phone]Song Tao (宋涛), judge of Xiangyang District Court: [phone], [phone], [phone]Ji Zhong (纪忠), court staff member: [phone], [phone]Liu Hongwei (刘洪伟), head of Jiamusi City Detention Center: [phone], [phone]

(More perpetrators’ contact information is available in the original Chinese article.)

Related report:

Heilongjiang Woman Faces Trial for Her Faith after One Year of Detention