(Minghui.org) A 71-year-old Daqing City, Heilongjiang Province, resident was recently sentenced to eight years and fined 50,000 yuan for her faith in Faun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Han Lihua, a Daqing Oil Production Plant retiree, was arrested and had her home ransacked on November 22, 2020, by over 20 other police officers. She was released on bail the same day.
Ms. Han was tried in the Ranghulu District Court on August 2, 2022. Judge Leng Zhiqiang asked her if she acknowledged the Falun Gong materials confiscated from her as evidence of her guilt. She argued that having the materials in itself didn’t violate any law, that she wasn’t present when the police ransacked her home, and that they never verified with her the confiscated items or provided a confiscation list.
Ms. Han’s lawyer entered a not-guilty plea on her behalf and denied the allegations against her, namely, “undermining law enforcement,” the standard pretext used to criminalize Falun Gong practitioners. He argued that the prosecutor failed to prove Ms. Han’s alleged criminal intent or to show how she undermined any law or what damage she caused to any individual or the country. He urged the judge to acquit her.
The judge asked Ms. Han if she could afford to pay the fine. She said she could not because her pension had been suspended for eight years.
Due to Ms. Han’s high blood pressure, the local detention center refused to admit her. Her daughter-in-law received a text co-sent by the Ranghulu District Court and Heilongjiang Province High Court on December 29, which claimed that they had issued a guilty verdict and that a notice would be forthcoming.
On January 3, 2023, Ms. Han was notified to pick up her verdict at the courthouse the following day. At the courthouse, she was told that she had been sentenced to eight years with a 50,000-yuan fine. The verdict was dated December 28. It’s not clear if she has been taken into custody or not.
Since the Chinese communist regime ordered the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999, Ms. Han has been repeatedly targeted for her faith. She was held in a brainwashing center for six months, given a three-year forced labor term in 2001 (she didn’t serve the term due to her health), and sentenced to seven years in prison in 2008.
Related reports:
Pension Already Suspended for Eight Years, 71-year-old Woman Tried Again for Her Faith
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