(Minghui.org) Four employees of Huanxiling Oil Refinery of Liaohe Oil Field in Panjin City, Liaoning Province were sentenced to prison on September 7, 2023 for their shared faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Ms. Liu Yan was sentenced to two years with a 5,000-yuan fine.Ms. Liu Benling, 77, was sentenced to one and a half years with a 4,000-yuan fine.Mr. Liu Qingjiang, who is Ms. Liu Yan’s younger brother, was sentenced to one year and three months with a 3,000-yuan fine.Ms. Li Chunsheng, 76, was sentenced to one year with a 2,000-yuan fine.
All four practitioners appealed with the Dawa Intermediate Court and it ruled to uphold their original verdicts. Ms. Liu Benling and Ms. Li, who had been out on bail after their arrests, have been admitted to the prison at the end of 2023. It’s not clear whether Ms. Liu Yan and her brother Mr. Liu, who were held at the Panjin City Detention Center after their arrests, would finish serving their terms in the detention center or be transferred to the prison.
Five Arrested in Four Days
Ms. Liu Yan was arrested at a private Falun Gong materials production site on February 24, 2023. The police confiscated her printer, computer, Falun Gong books, informational materials, and other valuables. Her brother was arrested shortly afterwards, though it was unclear where he was arrested.
Ms. Li was arrested at home on February 25, 2023 and released on bail the next morning. Ms. Liu Benling was seized from her homes on the afternoon of February 27, 2023. At the police department, Ms. Liu Benling was handcuffed, body searched, and had her picture taken. The police also forced her to sign some paperwork and put a tracking device on her right wrist. She was then brought to an interrogation room and questioned by the police. They released her on bail at around 4 a.m. the next morning.
The Court Hearing
The four practitioners appeared in the Panjin City Court on July 18, 2023. Mr. Liu Qingjiang and Ms. Liu Yan were handcuffed and shackled throughout the hearing.
Ms. Liu Benling refused to sit in the defendant’s seat as instructed by judge Zhang Xintong. She insisted that she didn’t break any law by practicing Falun Gong and was thus not a defendant. The bailiff then brought another chair for her to sit down.
Zhang asked if Ms. Liu needed a court-appointed lawyer and she declined. She then testified in her own defense. She pointed out that no enacted law in China criminalizes Falun Gong, and that the ban on Falun Gong publications had long been lifted in 2011.
Ms. Liu also said that the entire prosecution process was illegal, from her arrest to home raid, from indictment to her trial. No evidence against her was presented in court, nor was any of the prosecution’s witnesses summoned to court to accept cross examination. After her defense statement, Ms. Liu refused to answer the judge’s questions.
Ms. Liu Yan also defended her innocence.
Related Report:
Panjin City, Liaoning Province: Four Oil Refinery Workers Tried for Their Shared Faith in Falun Gong
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