(Minghui.org) Ms. Wei Xiujuan, a 49-year-old college professor in Jilin City, Jilin Province, has been in prison for three months because of her belief in Falun Gong. As a result of torture and forced labor, she recently lost consciousness and was hospitalized.
Prior to practicing Falun Gong in 1996, Ms. Wei suffered from over 10 illnesses, including sudden fainting. She often collapsed in the middle of teaching at Beihua University, looking pale with breathing difficulty. Since she started to practice Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline comprising meditative exercises and moral teachings based on the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, her illnesses went away and she no longer needed medication.
Since the Chinese Communist Party began to suppress Falun Gong in July 1999, Ms. Wei has been arrested and detained numerous times for her belief. Seven police officers arrested her at her home on August 1, 2014. After being arrested again on November 23, 2016, she lost consciousness several times during detention. The police released her on bail, only to take her back into custody shortly afterward. These episodes repeated a number of times, and her family had to pay bail each time she was temporarily released.
Ms. Wei later made a full recovery through doing the Falun Gong exercises upon being released.
Officers from Changjiang Police Station arrested her again on April 27, 2018, claiming they needed her in custody to close her 2016 case. While being kept at Jilin City Detention Center, Ms. Wei was forced to do slave labor and take shifts standing guard at night. Such treatment led to health problems for her from time to time.
While Ms. Wei’s physical examination results did not allow her to be held at the detention center, officials ignored the policy and kept her in detention.
Before her trial at Gaoxin Court on July 13, 2018, officials told her family members not to tell others about the hearing, threatening retaliation. Four family members attended the trial, while the rest of the seats were occupied by court staff. Ms. Wei defended herself and emphasized that she should not have been prosecuted for exercising her constitutional right to freedom of belief. She also cited laws that gave her the right to own Falun Gong books and related materials.
The court later sentenced her to two years with a fine of 5,000 yuan. Ms. Wei appealed to Jilin City Intermediate Court, which soon ruled to uphold the original verdict. She was taken to Jilin Women's Prison in October 2018.
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