(Minghui.org) A Zhucheng City, Shandong Province, resident recently lost her appeal against a five-year prison term for her faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Li Mingxia, who had been forced to live away from home to avoid the persecution, was arrested at her rental place on April 19, 2024. She was later indicted by prosecutor Song Yanmei of the Zhucheng City Procuratorate. During her hearing by the Zhucheng City Court on December 30, 2024. Her lawyers entered a not guilty plea for her. The judge sentenced her to five years with a 20,000-yuan fine on January 23, 2025.
Ms. Li appealed with the Weifang City Intermediate Court. Judges He Dayong, Li Guixia and Gao Xingdong ruled to uphold her original verdict on March 20, 2025. It’s not clear where she is currently held.
Ms. Li, a 54-year-old former accountant with the Zhucheng City Power Company, took up Falun Gong in 2009. By doing the Falun Gong exercises and living by the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance, her adenomyoma, a condition where the uterus lining tissue grew into the muscular wall of the uterus, recovered soon. She was grateful that she didn’t have to surgically remove her uterus.
In May 2015, Ms. Li filed a criminal complaint against Jiang Zemin, the former head of the Chinese Communist Party, for ordering the persecution of Falun Gong. The police began to harass her in March 2016. Unable to live a normal life, she was forced to live away from home to hide from the police.
Ms. Li was arrested in Yantai City in the same province on September 23, 2017, after being reported for talking to people about Falun Gong. She was first held at the Yantai City Detention Center and then transferred back to Weifang on October 31. The Fangzi District Court in Weifang sentenced her to two years on July 31, 2018. Her appeal was rejected by the Weifang City Intermediate Court. She was admitted to the Shandong Province Women’s Prison in January 2019 and released on October 30, 2019.
Ms. Li was arrested again in a police sweep on March 3, 2022 by officers from the Zhucheng City Domestic Security Division. She was then taken to the Zhucheng City Brainwashing Center. Guard Song Wei slapped her in the face. Her face became swollen, her gums were bleeding, and she had a toothache for over a week. The police kept her restrained in a metal chair and interrogated her around the clock on two occasions, the first time for 23 days in a row and the second time for seven days straight without any breaks. During each marathon interrogation session, she had to sit in the chair day and night. The long-term sitting caused Ms. Li’s legs and feet to become extremely swollen.
Judge Zhu Yuewei of the Zhucheng City Court held a hearing of Ms. Li and five other practitioners’ cases on October 26, 2023. After the court hearing, Ms. Li lived away from home to avoid possibly being sentenced. As she did not show up in court for the sentencing hearing on November 2, 2023, judge Zhu announced that her trial was put on hold. The police arrested her months later and the same judge Zhu sentenced her to five years in January 2025. Two other judges, Liu Qinghua and Shi Jianxin, as well as judges’ assistant Zheng Yunlong, and court clerk Du Yuling, also signed her verdict.