(Minghui.org) A 46-year-old woman in Jilin City, Jilin Province, was admitted to the Jilin Province Women’s Prison on October 13, 2023, to serve a four-year term for her faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Ms. Wang Chunling’s family was never notified of her trial, sentencing, or prison transfer. One of her friends went to a local detention center to visit her in late November 2023 and was told that she had been transferred to prison weeks before, after the Changyi District Court sentenced her. The detention center did not reveal any other details of Ms. Wang’s case, such as when she was tried or sentenced.
Ms. Wang’s loved ones asked to visit her in the prison but were repeatedly denied. They most recently went to the prison (located in the capital city of Changchun) before the Chinese New Year (February 10, 2024) but were still turned away. The prison authorities said that there would be no family visits for Ms. Wang as long as she still insisted on practicing Falun Gong.
Ms. Wang’s ordeal stemmed from her initial arrest on January 3, 2022, after being reported for talking to people about Falun Gong. The police beat her and broke her thumb when she refused to put her fingerprints on the interrogation records. She was released on bail three months later and indicted on February 7, 2023.
While out on bail, Ms. Wang was arrested again on May 4, 2023, after Xin’an Police Station officers spotted her distributing Falun Gong informational materials. They took her to a local detention center and her family has not been given any official update on her case since. They only learned of her conviction and prison transfer from the friend who visited her in late November 2023.
Details of Initial Arrest in January 2022
Ms. Wang was arrested on January 3, 2022, after being reported for distributing informational materials about Falun Gong. When she refused to get into the police car, an officer kicked her and forced her into it.
Ms. Wang was held at the Xinghua Police Station for nearly 30 hours. When she refused to answer any questions, an officer slapped her in the face. Another one punched her in the abdomen and asked her if she believed in the Communist Party. She replied that she believed in Falun Gong’s teacher.
A young officer, Yang Zhongyu, ordered Ms. Wang to put her fingerprints on her case documents. When she refused, Yang summoned three more officers. Each of them held her arms and hands and attempted to force her to fingerprint the documents. One officer used so much force that he broke her thumb. Only then did they stop.
The next afternoon, the police grabbed Ms. Wang’s other hand, put her finger on the ink pad, and were about to put her inked finger on the documents, when Yang attempted to hit her hand. Ms. Wang managed to quickly pull her hand back, and Yang’s fist landed on the table so hard that he of scraped a large patch of skin. Yang also attempted to kick Ms. Wang in the leg, but to keep her balance, Ms. Wang stepped back just as she pulled her hand back, so Yang kicked the table leg and screamed in pain.
Yang took Ms. Wang to the restroom, where there was no surveillance camera. He slapped her in the face and hit her in the chest and on her shoulder. He also ordered her to recite Falun Gong poems for three minutes. Suspecting that he was trying to record her voice, either to fabricate evidence against her or use it for surveillance, she didn’t comply.
The police later found Ms. Wang’s information in their database from an entry of an earlier arrest in 2020 and a ten-day detention. They called her husband, daughter, and mother-in-law to confirm her identity and then took her to the Jilin City Detention Center.
Ms. Wang was released on bail on April 16, 2022. When they took her home, the police searched the place. They came back a few more times to harass her after that.
Indicted in February 2023
Officer Yang called Ms. Wang’s family in January 2023. He said they were returning the 1,000-yuan bail bond the family paid for Ms. Wang and she should come to the police station to pick it up.
When Ms. Wang showed up, Yang took her to the Changyi District Procuratorate. Prosecutor Li Xiaozhao ordered her to sign her case document but she refused. Li warned her that she would have to make another trip to the procuratorate before they could return the money to her.
Yang called Ms. Wang again on February 6, 2023, and ordered her to report to the procuratorate. Ms. Wang went with her mother-in-law, but the older woman wasn’t allowed to go inside with her.
Li asked Ms. Wang if she pleaded guilty. She insisted that she didn’t violate any law and refused to sign anything. When her mother-in-law finally gained entry, she told Li that her daughter-in-law was a wonderful person who was very good to her mother-in-law. Li told them to go home and come back the next morning.
Ms. Wang returned to the procuratorate with her daughter the next day. Li took both of them to the Changyi District Court. Instead of returning the 1,000-yuan bail bond the police had promised, the court ordered Ms. Wang to pay another 2,000 yuan and have her daughter sign her case document as a guarantor. If she didn’t, they would take her to the detention center.
Fearing that Ms. Wang would be detained, her daughter gave her phone number to the court staff members and signed her family name “Chen” on the document.
The court staff members gave Ms. Wang two notices. One of them was an indictment from the Changyi District Procuratorate. Prosecutor Li accused her of not pleading guilty and recommended a four-year prison sentence. The court also issued a bail condition for a year and ordered her to report to the court whenever she was summoned. Ms. Wang was also not allowed to leave town.
Related Reports:
Beaten and Deceived by the Police, Jilin Woman Faces Trial for Her Faith in Falun Gong
Jilin Woman Detained for Two Weeks and Counting for Distributing Falun Gong Materials
Copyright © 2024 Minghui.org. All rights reserved.
