(Minghui.org) Thirteen Tangshan City, Hebei Province residents stood trial at the Luannan County Court on July 20, 2021 for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual and meditation discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Six practitioners are known to have been sentenced to prison terms ranging from six months to ten years. It remains unclear whether the other seven practitioners are still awaiting verdicts.
The thirteen practitioners were arrested in a police sweep on August 12, 2020, when over 100 police officers were mobilized to terrorize, arrest, and torture more than 50 practitioners, in an attempt to force them to give up their faith. A few practitioners in nearby Tianjin, a centrally-controlled municipality, were also arrested. Mr. Dong Jianquan died on October 25, 2020 as a result of the tremendous pressure.
While most of the practitioners were later released and cleared of prosecution, thirteen practitioners had their cases submitted to the Procuratorate. Among them, Ms. Zhang Zhilan, Ms. Cui Shuyu, Ms. Li Yuying, and Ms. Tong Xiulan were detained at the Tangshan City No. 1 Detention Center. Mr. Hou Jianguang and Mr. Wang Baozhu were held at the Fengnan District Detention Center. Mr. Liu Weili, Ms. Wang Huilin, Ms. Liu Jinying, Mr. Hu Yincang, Mr. Lu Lifa, Mr. Zuo Desheng, and Ms. Bi Guanqin were put under house arrest.
The Luannan County Court initially scheduled hearings for January 20-21, 2021, but later canceled the hearings due to local outbreaks of coronavirus cases.
It has been confirmed that Mr. Liu was sentenced to ten years, Ms. Zhang was given seven years, Mr. Zuo two years and six months, Mr. Wang eleven months, and both Mr. Lu and Ms. Bi were sentenced to six-month terms.
Ms. Wang suffered a medical condition on her way to the court and the presiding judge said he would announce her verdict at a later time. The other six practitioners’ verdicts aren’t clear either.
Those who were responsible in sentencing the practitioners include judges Zhang Hongbo, Tang Juquan, and Gao Caixiang, clerk Gao Meng, as well as prosecutors Cao Xubin, Zhou Xin’ai, and Wei Congchao.
In addition, three siblings, Ms. Sun Yanping, Ms. Sun Cuiping, and Ms. Sun Jianping, who were arrested on the same day in Tianjin, were tried by the Ninghe District Court in Tianjin on January 6, 2021. It’s not clear whether they have been sentenced.
Perpetrators’ contact information:
Feng Guangdong (冯广东), president of the Luannan County Court: +86-13832821944Liu Yansuo (刘彦锁), judge of the Luannan County Court: +86-13832801128Guo Xiaohui (郭晓辉), president of the Luannan County Procuratorate: +86-315-4111818Cao Jingtao (曹景涛), prosecutor: +86-315-4123844, +86-315-4125828, +86-13933455828Liu Li (刘立), prosecutor: +86-315-8230966, +86-13513332766
(More perpetrators’ contact information is available in the original Chinese article.)
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Category: Accounts of Persecution
