(Minghui.org) Ms. Zhao Fei, 63, from Tianjin, was tried on February 17, 2025 for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Ms. Zhao’s lawyer emphasized that no law in China criminalizes Falun Gong. He also testified against the prosecutor for adding new evidence to the case without his knowledge, which is a violation of the legal procedure.
Arrest and Indictment
Ms. Zhao’s arrest came after a resident named Liu Junnan turned in a Falun Gong flyer that he picked up outside a noodle restaurant in Shigezhuang Town, Wuqing District, Tianjin. Officers at the Shigezhuang Police Station watched the surveillance videos and saw a woman resembling Ms. Zhao distributing Falun Gong flyers outside the restaurant. Deputy chief Jia Dapeng led his officers to arrest Ms. Zhao on October 2, 2024. They put her in the Wuqing District Detention Center. She was issued a formal arrest warrant on October 17. Her home was raided and she was put in criminal detention.
The police submitted Ms. Zhao’s case to the Wuqing District Procuratorate, which returned it citing insufficient evidence. The police resubmitted the case one month later and this time it was accepted. The procuratorate indicted Ms. Zhao and forwarded her case to the Wuqing District Court.
Trial
Shortly before Ms. Zhao’s trial on February 17, 2025, prosecutor Yan Fuqiang told her lawyer that they had added new evidence to the case, which violates legal procedure. The lawyer had long finished reviewing the case file before January 2025, so no new evidence should have been added.
The first piece of new evidence was a blurry video clip. One could not make out the face of the person shown in the footage or tell what she was doing. The time stamp shown in the clip also did not match the time frame in which the tipster claimed to have picked up the said Falun Gong flyer.
The second piece of evidence was five witnesses’ testimonies alleging that they saw Ms. Zhao distributing Falun Gong flyers. However, there were no audio recordings or video clips of the witnesses saying this. The written testimonies themselves were insufficient to verify that the witnesses were legitimate.
Prosecutor Yan alleged that Ms. Zhao was a repeat offender because she was previously sentenced to five and a half years for practicing Falun Gong. Her lawyer refuted that no law in China criminalizes Falun Gong and that she should never have been jailed.
Past Persecution
Ms. Zhao taught English at the Shigezhuang Town Middle School. After the persecution began in 1999, she was demoted to teach at the Shigezhuang Town Elementary School.
Ms. Zhao went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong in March 2000. She was arrested and taken back to Tianjin. Instructor Zhang Qingxiang led officers Zhang Dianlun, Zhang Ke, and Xie Qin to torture her under the directive of Li Ruize, vice secretary of Shigezhuang Town. They shocked her with electric batons; her hands and feet were badly burned. They also slapped her face, causing it to become deformed. At night they cuffed her to a tricycle outside to expose her to the elements. During the day they also handcuffed her to a utility pole to humiliate her. Zhang Qingxiang even threatened to whip her at one point.
After more than four months of detention, Ms. Zhao was finally released, but her school suspended her pay for six months.
In 2008, Du Xuemin, the newly appointed vice manager of Shigezhuang Town, instructed the school district superintendent to have a car parked outside Ms. Zhao’s apartment building to monitor her around the clock. They prevented her from going outside for three days.
Ms. Zhao reasoned with the person assigned to monitor her and the superintendent. The superintendent reported her to Du and asked the latter to “discipline” her. Du in turn reported Ms. Zhao to the Wuqing District Police Department, saying she barred students from singing pro-CCP songs during flag-raising ceremonies and she urged students to practice Falun Gong.
The police went to the elementary school to collect “evidence” against Ms. Zhao. Her third-grade students were terrified and said whatever the police asked them to “confess.” A few young teachers also signed statements against Ms. Zhao. The older teachers. who'd lived through the regime’s past political movements, avoided answering the officers’ questions. Cai Yuru, the school principal, was later removed from her position for refusing to provide statements incriminating Ms. Zhao. The Shigezhuang Town Education Office put a stamp on the statements collected from the students and the younger teachers, which then became “evidence” against Ms. Zhao.
Ms. Zhao’s family tried to hire a lawyer but no one dared to take the case. The Wuqing District Court later sentenced her to five and a half years. The school superintendent regretted his reporting her to police, and said he didn’t expect she would be sentenced for practicing Falun Gong.
The police took Ms. Zhao to the Tianjin Women’s Prison in November 2008. She was found to have a rapid heart rate during the required physical exam, so she was taken back to the Wuqing District Detention Center. The police had her admitted to prison during another attempt on January 17, 2009. She finished serving time on December 20, 2014.
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