(Minghui.org) An 87-year-old mother is suing a judge and two prosecutors for wrongfully indicting and sentencing her 55-year-old daughter, Ms. Li Zhifen, to four years for practicing Falun Gong.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
The sentencing of Ms. Li, of Xingcheng City, Liaoning Province, stemmed from her arrest on August 25, 2013. She lived away from home to avoid the persecution after being released on bail on September 30 that year. The police put her on the wanted list. Meanwhile, prosecutors Ma Jie and Yao Sifan of Xingcheng Procuratorate still indicted her on June 5, 2014.
When Ms. Li was on the run in the past few years, her husband’s brother became the main caregiver for her father-in-law. When her brother-in-law got married in early 2022, Ms. Li and her husband agreed to have her father-in-law move in with them so they could look after him themselves. Only a few days after she returned home from living away, she was reported to the police, who came to arrest her on August 14, 2022. Terrified by her arrest, her father-in-law passed away on October 21. He was in his 80s.
Ms. Li has been held at the Huludao City Detention Center since her arrest. Judge Cui Baomin of Xingcheng Court sentenced her to four years with a 2,000-yuan fine on September 27. Others who signed her verdicts were judges Wang Wei and Tian Hua, as well as clerk Sun Zaijia. Ms. Li has appealed with the Huludao City Intermediate Court.
To seek justice for Ms. Li, her mother, Ms. Zhang Shuqing, filed complaints against judge Cui and prosecutors Ma and Yao. She said that no law has ever criminalized Falun Gong in China or lists it as a cult. As such, her daughter didn’t violate any law in practicing her faith, but was still wrongfully accused of “undermining law enforcement with a cult organization.” It’s the judge and the prosecutors who infringed upon her daughter’s freedom of spiritual belief and abused the law.
In addition to Ms. Li, the same Xingcheng Court sentenced Mr. Li Shujun to five years in 2014, Ms. Zhang Guihuan to two years in 2017 and Ms. Xing Sufang to one year in 2018.
Prior to her latest sentencing, Ms. Li was given three years of forced labor on February 4, 2004.
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