Two Hubei Women Appeal Wrongful Convictions for Practicing Falun Gong

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Jan. 6, 2024 | By a Minghui correspondent in Hubei Province, China

(Minghui.org) Two Xiantao City, Hubei Province, residents are appealing their prison sentences for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Ms. Yang Dongmei was sentenced to two years and three months and fined 10,000 yuan. She is set to be released on August 6, 2025. Ms. Liu Yanqiu was sentenced to one year and two months and fined 5,000 yuan. She is scheduled to be released from prison on July 11, 2024.

The two women’s sentences stemmed from their arrests on May 7, 2023, when they were reported for distributing informational materials about Falun Gong. Ms. Yang was given 15 days of administrative detention before being put on criminal detention. Ms. Liu was released on bail after being detained for ten days, only to be taken back into custody on May 24. They are currently held in the Xiaotao City Detention Center.

The Xiantao City Court heard the women’s joint case on October 19, 2023 and convicted both of them on November 29. Presiding judge Zhao Yanfen, judges Wang Hao and Chen Wanlan, as well as clerk Li Qingyun signed the verdicts.

Ms. Yang and Ms. Liu soon filed an appeal with the Jianghan Intermediate Court and are currently waiting for a response. For details of their arrests and trial, see the related report.

Prior to their latest ordeals, Ms. Liu and Ms. Yang were targeted before for practicing Falun Gong. Ms. Yang was arrested on April 13, 2016 and was sentenced to three years with a three-year probation. She was released after spending one year and eight months in custody.

Ms. Liu was arrested on July 19, 2009 and her husband, Mr. Ouyang Zhangguo, was arrested two months later on September 11, 2009. Mr. Ouyang was taken to the Tangxunhu Brainwashing Center in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei. Due to the physical torture and mental distress he was subjected to in detention, his health declined after he was released on October 30, 2009. He was only 38 years old when he passed away in 2012.

Mr. Ouyang Zhangguo