Practitioners Incarcerated in Shanxi Province Women's Prison, Families Prevented from Visiting

(Minghui.org) The persecution of Falun Gong continues in China, with lengthy imprisonments still a norm.

Falun Gong practitioners Ms. Bian Pingge and Ms. Xia Yilin from Taiyuan City, Shanxi Province, were illegally sentenced to prison, Ms. Bian to seven years and Ms. Xia to four. They were transferred from the Taiyuan City First Detention Center to the Shanxi Province Women's Prison.

Ms. Xia was incarcerated on November 15, 2016, and Ms. Bian on December 7, 2016. Their families were not notified by the authorities.

Ms. Bian is an assistant engineer at the Taiyuan Research Institute of China Coal Science and Industry Group. She was arrested on March 8, 2016, by Wucheng Police Station officers in the Xiaodian District. She was tried in the Xiaodian District Court on August 10 and sentenced to seven years on August 31. She was also fined 10,000 yuan. Ms. Bian appealed to the superior court but her appeal was rejected. Her family was not notified during the entire appeal process.

Ms. Xia, 62, is also from Taiyuan City. She was imprisoned for three years after former dictator Jiang Zemin started the persecution of Falun Gong. After she filed criminal complaints with the Supreme Court and Supreme Procuratorate against Jiang on August 10, 2015, she was arrested by Yingze District police on September 17, 2015, and sentenced to four years’ imprisonment and fined 10,000 yuan in the Yingze District Court.

Prison Authorities Refuse to Allow Families to Visit

Shanxi Province Women Prison did not allow Ms. Xia and Ms. Bian’s families to visit them, claiming that new detainees needed to go through “training.” The truth is that the prison put restrictions on the women in order to pressure them into denouncing and giving up Falun Gong.

Ms. Xia was placed in the No. 7 prison district and Ms. Bian at the No. 9 district.

Ms. Xia’s family members visited the prison four times in the past two months but were never allowed to see her. When her family later learned that the newcomers’ training only lasted a month, they asked Hu Jinhua, head of the Prison Administration Section, why they were not allowed to visit Ms. Xia. Hu said that it was because she was a Falun Gong practitioner and that she had sued Jiang Zemin.

When Ms. Bian’s husband visited Taiyuan No. 1 Detention Center on December 9, he was told that Ms. Bian had already been transferred to Shanxi Province Women's Prison on December 7.

He went to the prison on December 14, the official visiting day. Section head Liang, who is in charge of visits, would not allow him to see his wife.

Ms. Bian’s husband said, “We haven’t seen her since last March after she was arrested. She is a good person. Why you don’t let me see her?”

Liang said the authorities did not allow him to visit her but did not provide any further guidelines. He simply told Ms. Bian’s husband to call back in a month.

Although Liang said the detention center was supposed to inform Ms. Bian’s family when they transferred her to the prison, her husband emphasized that they were never notified.

Parties Involved in the Persecution of Ms. Bian and Ms. Xia:

Zhang Jinwang (张金旺), Party secretary and warden of the Shanxi Province Women Prison: [phone], [phone], [phone], [phone]Wang Yuhong (王宇红), deputy warden, promoted from instructor of the fifth district for actively persecuting Falun Gong practitioners: [phone], [phone], [phone]Wei Yu (卫宇), instructor at the No. 9 prison district, actively persecutes Falun Gong practitioners: [phone]Wu Haiyan (吴海燕), head of the prison education section, responsible for assigning target to each prison district to “transform” practitioners: [phone], [phone]Lei Runxiang (雷润香), instructor of the second prison district: [phone], [phone], [phone]Hu Jinhua (胡晋华), deputy head of Prison Administration Section: [phone], [phone]