(Minghui.org) A 56-year-old resident of Yangquan City, Shanxi Province was admitted to the Shanxi Province Women’s Prison in January 2024 after she lost her appeal against a 3.5-year term in December 2023.
Ms. Zhang Ruiping was arrested on April 19, 2023 for her faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999. She stood trial at the Pingding County Court on September 27, 2023 and was convicted two months later. The Yangquan City Intermediate Court ruled to uphold her verdict in December 2023.
This is not the first time that Ms. Zhang has been targeted for practicing Falun Gong, which she credits for curing her stomach problems, enteritis, armpit pain, leg pain, and other ailments. Prior to her latest ordeal, Ms. Zhang was arrested several times over the years. For details of her past persecution, see the related reports below.
Wu Guoguang, captain of the Cheng District Domestic Security Office, staked a group of officers outside Ms. Zhang’s home on April 19, 2023. As soon as her child opened the door to go to work, they barged in and raided her home.
They took Ms. Zhang to the Yangquan City Brainwashing Center, where she was forced to read, watch and listen to anti-Falun Gong propaganda. Qiao Jinhua and Gao Lifang, two former practitioners who had renounced Falun Gong under pressure, were assigned to “work on” Ms. Zhang.
The Yangquan City Police Department and the Nanshan Road Police Station transferred Ms. Zhang to the Yangquan City Detention Center on May 5. The Yangquan City Procuratorate issued a formal arrest against her on May 19 and submitted her case to the Yangquan City Court in mid-August 2023.
The Yangquan City Court delegated the case to its subordinate Pingding County Court. Ms. Zhang stood trial on September 27, 2023. The prosecutor charged her with “using a cult organization to undermine law enforcement,” a standard pretext used to frame and imprison Falun Gong practitioners.
Ms. Zhang’s lawyer refuted the allegation against her and emphasized that no enacted law in China has criminalized Falun Gong or labeled it as a cult.
The prosecution evidence included 2,000 yuan in banknotes confiscated from Ms. Zhang’s home and a laminating machine that someone claimed to have seen Ms. Zhang use to laminate informational materials about Falun Gong.
The banknotes had Falun Gong messages printed on them as a way to raise awareness of the persecution of Falun Gong, and which in no way broke any law or caused any harm to anyone. Ms. Zhang and her lawyer challenged the prosecutor to present the banknotes in court for everyone to see what messages printed on them had harmful content. The prosecutor denied the request. His “witness” and the “laminating machine” were nowhere to be seen in court either, when normally the actual items of prosecution evidence should have been presented during trial.
The hearing lasted just over one hour, with more than ten of Ms. Zhang’s family and friends in attendance. She was sentenced to 3.5 years in November 2023.
55-Year-Old Shanxi Woman Gets 3.5 Years for Her Faith in Falun Gong
Shanxi Woman Stands Trial for Her Faith, Lawyer Demands Her Acquittal
Exposing the Crimes Committed in Yangquan City Brainwashing Center