(Minghui.org) The Maoming City Intermediate Court in Guangdong Province ruled on June 5, 2023, to uphold the wrongful conviction of an 83-year-old local woman for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
The decision was issued by presiding judge Zhang Chi and judges Li Jinjie and Liang Dongqing. Assistant He Yongkang and clerk Ke Qianwen helped with the paperwork.
Ms. Li Shunhua was sentenced to one year and fined 3,000 yuan on February 28, 2023. She had been out on bail following her arrest on October 23, 2020, but was taken back into custody after her sentencing. She is currently held at the Maoming City No. 1 Detention Center. Her son and daughter visited her there after her appeal was rejected.
Long Targeted for Upholding Her Faith
Ms. Li used to suffer from many serious diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, deformed joints, nephritis, heart disease, myocardial infarction, Ménière’s syndrome, sciatic nerve, and frozen shoulder. She lived in so much pain that she also became irritable and intolerable. Her fate changed in May 1995, when she took up Falun Gong at the age of 55. Her symptoms disappeared in less than six months. She also learned to improve her character and mend her strained relationship with her family by following Falun Gong’s principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.
Ms. Li never wavered in her faith after the persecution began two years later. She was arrested many times during the past two-plus decades for practicing Falun Gong. When she was not in detention, she was harassed from time to time by authorities.
The harassment intensified in recent years. Jiang Zhixiong of the Maonan District 610 Office, Guo Weiqing and Zheng Caiqin of the local street committee, and officers from the Zhanqian Road Police Station frequented her home and ordered her to sign various statements promising to renounce Falun Gong. She refused to comply and shared with them how Falun Gong restored her health and turned her into a better person. She urged them to stop persecuting Falun Gong practitioners like her. They, however, retaliated by eventually arresting her in 2020.
Latest Sentencing Follows Arrest in 2020
Ms. Li was arrested at home on October 23, 2020, by over ten officers from the Zhanqian Road Police Station. Her Falun Gong books and informational materials were confiscated. The police interrogated and threatened her at the police station. Jiang of the Maonan District 610 Office also attempted to make her renounce Falun Gong.
Ms. Li refused to comply and was taken to the Maoming City No.1 Detention Center hours after her arrest. At a health exam the following day, she was found to have high blood pressure and a severe heart condition. She was released on bail on the evening of October 26, 2020.
The police later submitted her case to the Maonan District Procuratorate. On October 22, 2021, prosecutor Deng Lijin indicted Ms. Li on charges of “undermining enforcement of the law and regulations with a cult organization,” the standard pretext used by the communist authorities to frame Falun Gong practitioners.
The police changed Ms. Li’s bail to house arrest on November 19, 2021.
Ms. Li appeared in the Maonan District Court on December 27, 2021. Her two lawyers entered a not-guilty plea on her behalf and refuted prosecutor Deng’s allegations against her.
Ms. Li’s house arrest was changed to bail on May 17, 2022, and presiding judge Tan Wei held a sentencing hearing on February 28, 2023. Also present were judges Ke Xuejun and Zhou Jinfeng, judge assistant Liu Qiuying, and clerk Liu Dan. Ms. Li’s two lawyers weren’t able to attend the hearing. Intimidated by the police, her son and daughter didn’t dare to go to the courthouse to show their support for her.
Because Ms. Li never returned home after her sentencing hearing and the police never updated her status, her son was worried about her and reported her disappearance the day after her hearing. The police contacted the family a day later and told them to wait for further information.
With the help of their lawyers, the family finally learned about Ms. Li’s sentencing and that she had been taken straight to the Maoming City No.1 Detention Center after the sentencing hearing.
Ms. Li hired a lawyer to appeal her wrongful conviction, but the Maoming City Intermediate Court ruled in favor of the trial court.
Related Reports:
83-year-old Woman Sentenced to One Year
81-year-old Woman Under House Arrest and Facing Trial for Her Faith
81-year-old Woman Faces Trial for Upholding Her Faith
Two Senior Women Arrested as Police Break into their Homes in Maoming City, Guandong Province
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