Heilongjiang Woman Sentenced to 3.5 Years for Her Faith

(Minghui.org) A Jiamusi City, Heilongjiang Province resident was sentenced to 3.5 years with a 15,000 yuan fine for practicing Falun Gong on January 14, 2022. Ms. Liu Jinping has filed an appeal with the higher court and she also urged the involved officials not to follow the Chinese Communist Party in persecuting good people.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual and meditation discipline that has been targeted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Ms. Liu Jinping

Ms. Liu, 41, began to practice Falun Gong in 2011. She credits the practice for enabling her to learn things faster. She used to have frequent colds and back pain, but both conditions disappeared after she started to practice Falun Gong. She also became more open and outgoing. After she got married, she had a good relationship with her in-laws.

Arrest

Ms. Liu was arrested at home on May 14, 2021, while studying Falun Gong’s teachings with other practitioners. While being interrogated at the police station, Wu Bin, the director of the Domestic Security Office, twisted her arms and hit her head against the wall. She almost became incontinent and she felt she almost died. With a large amount of swelling and wound on her head, she was taken to the Jiamusi City Detention Center on the same day.

Ms. Liu was indicted by the Xiangyang District Procuratorate on November 22, 2021, on charges of “undermining law enforcement with a cult organization,” the standard pretext used to criminalize Falun Gong practitioners in China.

When she appeared in Xiangyang District Court on December 31, 2021, she refused to plead guilty and maintained that it’s her legally protected right to practice Falun Gong. Her family defender also urged the presiding judge, Song Tao, to exclude the “confessions” extracted by the police through interrogation, as well as re-evaluating whether the Falun Gong-related materials submitted by the police can indeed prove that she had violated the law. Judge Song ignored their request and proceeded with the session.

Complaints Against Perpetrators

Ms. Liu’s family defender filed complaints against the police, the judge and the prosecutor before and after the hearing to seek justice for her.

Complaints Against the Police

Ms. Liu’s family mailed letters to the Jiamusi Police Department, the local procuratorate, and the supervision department. They also filed complaints with the police’s own reporting platform, accusing officer Wu Bin of arbitrarily detaining her, searching her place, interrogating and beating her.

Her family went to the appeals office of the Jiamusi City Police Department on January 6, 2022, to report the abuse. The officer who received them agreed that Wu violated the law and suggested the family report the abuse to the discipline inspection department of his police station.

The family then went to the Jiaoqu District Police Department. Its director Wang Jun said he had received the complaint they filed earlier and that they were still investigating the case. When the family later followed up with the office, an officer surnamed Ji demanded they provide more evidence to support their claim, such as the surveillance video taken during the interrogation.

Ms. Liu’s lawyer argued that when Ms. Liu was interrogated by the police, she was the victim and all of her contact with the outside world was disconnected. How could the police still expect her to provide evidence of the abuse? On the other hand, if the accused police officer believed he was innocent, why couldn’t they publish their own surveillance videos to show the public what had happened?

Ms. Liu’s family is urging the authorities to protect their basic rights and hold the officer accountable for his violence.

Complaints Against the Prosecutor

On November 30, 2021, a week after Ms. Liu was indicted, her family also filed a complaint against Li Lifeng of the Xiangyang District Procuratorate. They further requested Bi Hongshu, the president of Xiangyang District Procuratorate, on December 20 to remove Li from office. The complaints were also sent to the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, the Heilongjiang Province Procuratorate, and Jiamusi City Procuratorate.

Ms. Liu’s family called Bi several times, but most calls went unanswered. When Bi finally answered their call on January 13, he denied having received the complaints, even though the mail delivery system indicated that all the letters had been delivered.

On January 17, Ms. Liu’s family was informed by the discipline inspection team that they had received their complaint and had started to investigate the case.

Complaints Against the Judge

After Ms. Liu was indicted and had her case moved to Xiangyang District Court, her family frequently called judge Ji Zhong and went to the court to look for him, but Ji never responded to the family. On November 26, the family mailed a letter to him, urging him to acquit Ms. Liu.

On December 20, when Ms. Liu’s family defender went to the court to look for the judge Song Tao, Song told them that Ms. Liu was scheduled to appear in court four days later (when the court is required by law to inform the defendant’s lawyer or family defender ten days before the scheduled court date). He also rejected her family defender’s request to review her case document or visit her.

Due to the judge’s failure to inform Ms. Liu’s family defender of the scheduled hearing in a timely manner, he refused to attend the session and filed a complaint against Song. Song then moved the session to December 31. Song also agreed to have the session in person, after receiving a letter from Ms. Liu’s family defender against the virtual hearing of her case.

Sentenced to Prison

Ms. Liu’s family defender was notified by the Xiangyang District Court on January 14, 2022, that she was sentenced to 3.5 years with a 15,000 yuan fine. When her lawyer visited her, she entrusted the lawyer to appeal the verdict for her. She said that she didn’t do anything wrong in practicing Falun Gong and shouldn’t be sentenced. She urged the officials not to follow the communist regime in the persecution and that there would be one day when everything would be brought to justice.

Past Persecution

Prior to her latest sentencing, Ms. Liu has been targeted several times for her faith. The police and residential committee staff members first harassed her in the summer of 2015 and questioned her for the reason of filing a criminal complaint against Jiang Zemin, the former head of the communist regime who ordered the persecution. Ms. Liu explained Jiang’s role in the persecution and the police left without saying anything.

Four police officers knocked on Ms. Liu’s home at 10 p.m. on July 30, 2015, and asked, “Is this Liu Jinping’s home?” As no one answered them, they left.

Ms. Liu was arrested on March 9, 2016, when she was studying Falun Gong’s teachings at another practitioner Ms. Chen Lanzhi’s home. The police snatched her home key and confiscated her computer and Falun Gong books.

At Youyilu Police Station, Ms. Liu was tied to a metal chair and slapped in the face with a notebook. Several officers took turns interrogating her. One of them threatened to detain her and harvest her organs. She remained silent. The police later took her to the Jiamusi City Lockup, without the required physical examination, and held her there for 14 days.

The police went to ransack Ms. Liu’s home again on August 7, 2016, but she wasn’t home. Her sister and her two children who came to visit her from out of town witnessed how the police raided her place and took away her Falun Gong books, computer, printer and banknotes printed with short messages about Falun Gong (as a way to counteract the strict information censorship in China). She was outraged by the police’s violence and almost suffered a heart attack. Her daughters were terrified by the police and they stood in the hallway, crying that the police were bad people. The police then quickly left.

Related reports:

Woman Detained for Her Faith, Family Seeking Justice for Her

Heilongjiang Woman Beaten During Interrogation, Faces Prosecution for Her Faith