Shandong Woman Sentenced to Four Years for Writing to Friends about Falun Gong

(Minghui.org) A 58-year-old resident of Dongying City, Shandong Province was sentenced to four years and fined 5,000 yuan on June 28, 2023, for mailing letters to her friends in her hometown of Yucheng City in the same province.

Ms. Wang Ying shared in the letters how Falun Gong restored her health. She used to suffer all kinds of ailments, including severe skin peeling, eye degeneration, rheumatoid arthritis, headaches, digestive problems, and low blood pressure. All her symptoms disappeared only two months later after she took up Falun Gong in 1996.

Because of her positive experience with Falun Gong, she never wavered in her faith after the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched a nationwide campaign against the practice in July 1999. She also used every possible opportunity to debunk the CCP’s lies against Falun Gong. She urged her friends to not fall victim to the CCP’s slanderous propaganda.

The Yucheng City Domestic Security Office arrested Ms. Wang on September 27, 2022, and submitted her case to the Yucheng City Procuratorate on October 21, 2022. She has been held at the Dezhou City Detention Center since her arrest.

The Yucheng City Court initially scheduled a virtual hearing for March 15, 2023, with Ms. Wang expected to join from the detention center and the court members from the Yucheng City Patrol Officers’ courtyard (which they claimed to be a space shared with the police). Ms. Wang and her lawyer objected and insisted on having an open, in-person hearing. The court relented and she appeared in the Yucheng City Court on May 30, 2023.

Prosecution Evidence Inadmissible

Prosecutors Liu Huirong and Qi Zhicheng charged Ms. Wang with using a cult organization to undermine law enforcement. Her lawyer argued that China’s law-making body, the People’s Congress, has never enacted any law to criminalize Falun Gong or label it as a cult.

The prosecutors insisted the following few pieces of evidence were sufficient to prove that Ms. Wang had undermined law enforcement. Her lawyer argued that none of the evidence was admissible as they violated Article 47 of the Criminal Procedure Law, which stipulates that admissible evidence must be presented in court, cross-examined by both sides of the trial (the plaintiff and the defendant and their respective lawyers), and authenticated by an independent, third-party forensic agency.

A Surveillance Video

The police said that a surveillance video caught Ms. Wang dropping off her letters at a certain post office, and the prosecutors cited the video as evidence against her, without playing the clip in court.

Her lawyer made a request to Judge Han Mengmeng before the hearing to have an independent, third-party forensic agency examine and verify the video, but Han turned him down.

The lawyer said at the hearing that without showing the video clip or any authentication of it in court, it remained to be seen whether the woman in the video was indeed his client, and even if it was, whether the number of letters seen dropped off in the video matched that stated in the indictment.

An Article Published on Minghui.org

The prosecutors spent a lot of time trying to “prove” that Ms. Wang had indeed mailed letters to her friends. One piece of evidence they cited was an article published on Minghui.org that contained this sentence, “Wang Ying’s hometown is in Yucheng. Out of her kindness and concern for her town folks, she mailed letters about Falun Gong to her friends in Yucheng.”

The lawyer pointed out that everything his client said in her letters was the facts, from how she benefited from practicing Falun Gong to how the communist regime fabricated lies to slander Falun Gong. He challenged the prosecutors to read out loud the letters to see whether they contained anything that undermined law enforcement. The prosecutors declined to read the letters in court.

Ms. Wang’s Friends and Younger Brother

The prosecutors listed Ms. Wang’s friends to whom she wrote letters, as well as her younger brother, as witnesses for the prosecution. None of the witnesses were present to read their testimonies, not to mention accept cross-examination. The lawyer said it was unclear whether the friends and brother were even aware that they had been listed as witnesses.

Items Confiscated from Ms. Wang’s Home

The prosecutors also cited the items confiscated from her home during her arrest as evidence against her. Ms. Wang testified against the police for breaking into her home without wearing their uniforms, showing any IDs, or driving their police cruisers as required by law. The police also did not ask her to sign the list of confiscated items as required by law.

Her lawyer added that the confiscated items were never examined by an independent, third-party forensic agency. As such, the police’s allegation that these items were evidence that Ms. Wang had undermined law enforcement failed to stand. As a matter of fact, all the Falun Gong books and informational materials confiscated from her home were her lawful assets.

A Previous Forced Labor Term

Ms. Wang was given one year and nine months of forced labor in July 2009 for upholding her faith in Falun Gong. The prosecutors cited the forced labor term as evidence that she was a repeat offender and should face a heavy sentence this time around.

Her lawyer emphasized that Ms. Wang should never have been prosecuted for exercising her constitutional right to freedom of belief. The prior forced labor term was thus unconstitutional. Moreover, the forced labor camp system had long been abolished in China in 2013.

Ms. Wang also testified in her own defense and demanded an acquittal. Judge Han sentenced her on June 28. Ms. Wang has filed an appeal.

Son Arrested Again for Supporting Her

Ms. Wang’s son, Mr. Li Long, who does not practice Falun Gong, was arrested while trying to attend her trial on May 30, 2023. It is unclear if he has been released at the time of the hearing.

This is not the first time that her son has been targeted for supporting her. Following Ms. Wang’s previous arrest on July 15, 2021, after being suspected by the police of putting up a Falun Gong banner two months earlier, Mr. Li was also detained. Although the mother and son were released soon after, the police arrested Mr. Li two more times on August 27 and November 6, 2021. They beat him and forced him to do a comprehensive physical examination after his November 2021 arrest. His cell phone was broken as a result.

Related Reports:

Grandmother Faces Prosecution for Mailing a Letter to a Friend about Falun Gong

Young Man Who Refused to Frame Falun Gong Practitioners Harassed and Beaten by Police

Mother Arrested for Displaying a Banner, Son Detained for Supporting Her