(Minghui.org) A Xi’an City, Shaanxi Province resident was sentenced to six years with a 20,000 yuan fine in early December 2021 for her faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual and meditation discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
This is the second time that Ms. Jin Rong, in her 60s, has been sentenced for her faith. She was previously sentenced to four years in September 2014 and subjected to various torture in prison.
Ms. Jin was arrested on April 21, 2020, after being reported by a young person named Yang Zhiyin for talking to him about Falun Gong. The police confiscated a large amount of personal items from her in the evening. While being held at the Huaqing Police Station, Ms. Jin held a hunger strike to protest the detention and urged the officers not to participate in the persecution. She was released on bail two days later.
The police arrested Ms. Jin again on June 8 and ransacked her home. She was taken to the Lintong District Detention Center the next day. All of the items confiscated from her, including Falun Gong books, informational materials, computer memory cards and cellphones, were submitted as prosecution evidence against her.
Liu Hu and Su Di, two prosecutors of the Baqiao District Procuratorate, indicted Ms. Jin on September 27, 2020. She was tried through a video conference by the Baqiao District Court on March 24, 2021. Her lawyer entered a not guilty plea for her. The lawyer argued that his client didn’t do anything to harm anyone or anything in society. Her distributing Falun Gong materials or talking to people about it was her freedom of expression and the prosecutors failed to provide evidence to support their charges of “undermining law enforcement with a cult organization,” which has been used as the standard pretext to criminalize Falun Gong practitioners.
Ms. Jin also testified in her own defense. She said that the hearing itself was illegal. The Falun Gong materials confiscated from her were her personal belongings and she didn’t violate any law in possessing Falun Gong materials or talking to people about it.
Ms. Jin was previously sentenced to four years by the Lianhu District Court in 2014. She was constantly beaten by the guards at Shaanxi Provinve Women’s Prison. She lost six front teeth and almost died from the beating. She was emaciated and haggard when she was released in April 2018.
Perpetrators’ contact information:
Luo Chengxing (骆成兴), judge of Xi’an City Intermediate Court: +86-29-87658229Zhang Minsheng (张民生), president of Xi’an City Procuratorate: +86-29-86130681Duan Wenwen (段文文), judge of Baqiao District Court: +86-29-83512033Su Di (苏涤), prosecutor of Baqiao District Procuratorate: +86-29-83524035
(More perpetrators’ contact information is available in the original Chinese article.)
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