(Minghui.org) A 58-year-old woman in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, was sentenced to four years and fined 5,000 yuan on August 24, 2023, for practicing Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Ms. Wang Xiuying has filed an appeal to protest the wrongful conviction. She wrote in her appeal, “I practice Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance [the core tenets of Falun Gong] and broke no law by trying to be a good person.”
Ms. Wang was taken into custody even though she has been struggling with dangerously high blood pressure since her arrest. She has developed an additional condition in her heart and often feels dizzy in the detention center.
Ms. Wang Xiuying
Arrest
Ms. Wang was arrested on February 12, 2023, after a food delivery worker reported her for telling him about Falun Gong outside of a supermarket. Several officers showed up, pushed her into a police cruiser, took her to the Chengdonghu Police Station, and confiscated her bag. Several officers stayed at the supermarket, trying to collect surveillance videos of Ms. Wang talking to the young man who’d reported her.
While Ms. Wang refused to answer the police’s questions on both February 12 and 13, she tried to persuade them not to participate in the persecution. The police raided her home on February 13 and confiscated her Falun Gong books and materials. They took her to several hospitals for a physical exam because she had persistent high blood pressure that would prevent the detention center from admitting her. The officers forced her to take blood pressure pills, which made her severely dizzy.
At around 8 p.m. on February 13, the police took Ms. Wang to the Shenyang City First Detention Center, but she was indeed denied admission due to her high blood pressure. One officer threatened to detain her no matter what.
After leaving the detention center, the police took her to another hospital to check her blood pressure and were disappointed to be told that her reading remained dangerously high. Then they took her back to the police station and interrogated her until 11 p.m., before finally allowing her to go home with her husband. They confiscated her ID and placed her under house arrest.
Ms. Wang’s husband went back to the police station the next day, demanding that the police return her ID, as she would need it in her everyday life. The police refused to give it to him and then made him pay 200 yuan for her physical exam. They warned him, “If we arrest her again, we will get her sentenced. You know her crime is as serious as murder.”
Indicted
Weeks later, the police submitted Ms. Wang’s case to the Yuhong District Procuratorate. Prosecutor Piao Yunjing called Ms. Wang’s husband in early May 2023 and told him to bring her in for a deposition. Ms. Wang refused to comply.
Ms. Wang called officer Zhang Shicheng, who was in charge of her case, on May 12, 2023. She said that she didn’t violate the law by practicing Falun Gong and that the Constitution protects freedom of belief. She insisted that Zhang lift her house arrest.
Zhang ignored her comments but ordered her to go to the procuratorate. He threatened to take Ms. Wang into custody if she didn’t cooperate with the authorities.
Ms. Wang pointed out that the police and prosecutor violated the law by working hand in glove to persecute good people. Zhang responded that they were collaborating with each other and they didn’t need her supervision.
Ms. Wang also called prosecutor Piao that same day and maintained that she didn’t violate the law. Piao said, “You can have your personal understanding, but our country also has its own rules.”
Ms. Wang then pointed out that Piao didn’t have a legal leg to stand on to charge her. Piao responded, “What is legal? If you want to talk about that, I won’t continue this conversation. I have no obligation to answer your questions.”
“As a prosecutor, don’t you handle cases according to the law?” Ms. Wang asked.
“Alright, alright, what else do you want to say?” Piao interrupted her.
Ms. Wang recounted how the police violated the law in handling her case, including arresting her and raiding her home without warrants. She also insisted that Piao lift her house arrest.
“Wang Xiuying, let me remind you, your only choice is to plead guilty. Have a good attitude and cut your ties with the Falun Gong organization.”
“I didn’t break any law!”
“That’s your own understanding. The government decided many years ago that Falun Gong was a ‘cult,’ and yet you still go out to promote it.”
“Which law says that Falun Gong is a ‘cult’?”
Unable to answer the question, Piao raised her voice and said, “Don’t discuss this with me. This is your own fault, but you just don’t want to acknowledge it. I can’t help you on that. Now, I’m formally telling you that Falun Gong has long been deemed a ‘cult.’ If you don’t want to acknowledge that and insist on practicing Falun Gong, that’s your own business. But if you insist, I also know how should I handle your case. There is no need for me to continue this conversation.”
Police Attempts to Take Ms. Wang into Custody
At around 8:30 a.m. on May 17, officer Zhang and chief Li ordered the security guard and the custodian in Ms. Zhang’s apartment complex to knock on her door and say that her downstairs neighbor had a ceiling leak. She saw through the deceit and refused to open the door.
Zhang then went up to the door and said, “Don’t you want to have your house arrest lifted? If so, open the door and come with me to the station.” When she refused to open up, Zhang threatened to use force. She told him and Li that they were police charged with upholding the law but they were breaking the law. They then called her husband and ordered him to return home to open the door. He firmly refused.
When Ms. Wang’s husband opened the door around 6:30 a.m. on June 13 to go to work, five plainclothes officers, including Zhang, came out of nowhere and barged into the apartment. Ms. Wang did not have her hair combed or her shoes on, but two officers dragged her to the elevator. Her husband and mother-in-law, who lives with them, were shocked and terrified.
Ms. Wang was taken to the Donghu Police Station. She refused to answer the officer's questions. Zhang went into a rage and cursed her, “Damn you, old woman! Why don’t you go to hell and incur retribution? Why are you still alive?”
Ms. Wang remained calm and told Zhang, “I feel sorry for you.” He calmed down a bit and said that he had to interrogate her because it was his job.
After the interrogation, Zhang and officer Wang Shuainan took Ms. Wang to the health clinic in the Yuhong District Police Department for a physical exam. When she refused to cooperate, they held her neck and shoulders, which were bruised and painful for the next few days.
Zhang and Sheng drove Ms. Wang to the Shenyang City First Detention Center that afternoon after the physical. The detention center staff refused to admit her because she had a systolic blood pressure reading of 200 mmHg (a healthy range is no more than 120 mmHg).
Zhang said, “No worries! Just admit her now and call me if she develops any symptoms later.” The detention center staff still refused and Zhang considered taking Ms. Wang to prison even though she had not been sentenced. The detention center authorities warned him that no prison would admit her because her blood pressure was so high.
Zhang and Sheng then took Ms. Wang to the Shenyang City Fourth Hospital, about eight miles away, to have IV injections and be given pills in an attempt to lower her blood pressure. Three hours later, Zhang and Sheng took Ms. Wang to the detention center again, but the staff refused to admit her, even after chief Li called the detention center.
By the time Zhang finally gave up, it was already 11 p.m. As he and Sheng drove Ms. Wang back to the police station, he complained, “The procuratorate put so much pressure on us to get you detained. Now look at what happened. They did not help us. I’d say they were just making our lives difficult.”
Around noon on June 15, Zhang interrogated Ms. Wang again and ordered her to sign her house arrest notice. She refused.
At around 3 p.m., prosecutor Piao and a clerk arrived to depose Ms. Wang even though she’s asked to have Piao recused from the case. She protested and again demanded to see documents showing the legal basis for prosecuting her. Piao ignored her.
Zhang released Ms. Wang not long afterward. He told her, “You’d better come whenever we summon you. You’ll be allowed to go home after we question you since no detention center or prison will admit you.”
Presiding Judge Violates Legal Procedures
In late June, Ms. Wang learned that Piao had submitted her indictment to the Yuhong District Court days earlier on June 26. She submitted a request to judge Ge Lidan, who was in charge of her case, to drop the indictment.
Officer Zhang and chief Li used her request as an excuse to arrest her again. This time, they got the Shenyang City First Detention Center to accept her on July 10. She remains in detention.
The Yuhong District Court scheduled a hearing for August 16, 2023, but presiding judge Ge Lidan never notified her of the court date. She didn’t learn of the upcoming trial until her lawyer visited her the day before the hearing. By law, the court should have given her at least three days’ advance notice.
Ms. Wang’s husband and friend twice applied to represent her as non-lawyer defenders, but judge Ge turned them down. Ms. Wang’s son, who works out of town, then returned to Shenyang and submitted his application to be her non-lawyer defender moments before the start of the hearing on August 16. Judge Ge approved his application after Ms. Wang signed the paperwork.
Judge Ge had initially allowed two family members to attend the hearing but changed the number to one right before the hearing. Ms. Wang’s other family member (relationship to her unknown) arrived at the courthouse before her husband and was let in. Her husband was thus kept out.
After the hearing began, Ms. Wang requested that prosecutor Piao be recused because she had filed a complaint against the latter around May 2023 for failing to investigate the police’s illegal arrest of her. Judge Ge rejected her request.
For some unknown reason, Ms. Wang’s own lawyer was not present at the hearing. The court-appointed lawyer, whom Ms. Wang had declined to use, entered a guilty plea for her and raised no objections to the prosecution evidence. The court-appointed lawyer had visited Ms. Wang on August 7 and said she should plead guilty to her “crime” of practicing Falun Gong. She argued that she’d broken no law and told him that she did not want him to represent her. She was surprised to see him in court against her will.
Judge Ge did not allow Ms. Wang’s son to question the prosecutor as required by law. He could only ask his mother questions, which kept him from adequately defending her. Even so, judge Ge constantly interrupted him and ended the session even before he finished reading his closing statement. He had to submit in writing his defense statement and two sets of materials attesting to his mother’s innocence.
During the hearing, there were eight bailiffs inside the courtroom, while about five officers from the Chengdonghu Police Station remained outside the courtroom door. Outside the courthouse, an unmarked car from the Chengdonghu Police Station parked by the side entrance to keep Ms. Wang’s supporters from going inside.
The hearing lasted about 30 minutes and judge Ge sentenced Ms. Wang eight days later despite the additional materials her son submitted.
Related Article in Chinese:
Related report:
Ms. Wang Xiuying from Liaoning Province Persecuted for Her Faith
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