(Minghui.org) A 47-year-old Tangshan City, Hebei Province, resident was admitted to the Hebei Province Women’s Prison on September 8, 2023 to serve an eight-year term for her faith in Falun Gong.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Geng Fuxia was seized by the police around 4:30 a.m. on June 18, 2020 as part of a group arrest of 36 local practitioners. One of them, then 68-year-old Ms. Han Yuqin, died at a police station only hours following her arrest.
Eight of the practitioners, including Ms. Geng, were later indicted by the Zunhua City Procuratorate and had their cases moved to the Zunhua City Court. Among them, Ms. Xiao Huijun was sentenced to three years in April 2021, Ms. Qian Shujuan was given two years after a hearing in July 2021, and five other practitioners (including Ms. Geng, Ms. Lu Caiyun, Ms. Wang Xiuhong, Ms. Fu Ruiying, and Mr. Wei Guoshen) were tried and sentenced together in October 2021. The eighth practitioner, Mr. Qiu Ruiwang was held in the Zunhua City Detention Center for over a year and released in late 2021, but it’s not clear whether he was sentenced or not.
When Ms. Geng, Ms. Lu, Ms. Wang, Ms. Fu, and Mr. Wei appeared in the Zunhua City Court on September 15, 2021, Mr. Wei testified that the police covered his head with a plastic bag smeared with an unknown liquid drug three times within a few hours. He almost suffocated from the fumes of the drug and couldn’t stop crying. Foggy-headed, he repeated what the police told him to say.
Ms. Geng presented several Falun Gong keepsakes used as evidence to charge her and other practitioners. “Take a look at them! How could I possibly undermine law enforcement with these items?” She also said that practicing her faith was a constitutionally protected right.
All practitioners maintained that they didn’t violate any law in practicing Falun Gong and demanded acquittal.
The judges, Wu Haichao, Wen Fu and Wang Jianbin, convicted the practitioners on October 15, 2021:
Ms. Geng was sentenced to eight years with a 10,000-yuan fine.Mr. Wei was sentenced to three years and eight months with a 5,000-yuan fine.Ms. Wang was sentenced to three years with a 3,000-yuan fine.Ms. Fu was sentenced to two years with a 3,000-yuan fine.Ms. Lu was sentenced to one year and five months with a 3,000-yuan fine.
Ms. Geng, Mr. Wei, Ms. Fu and Ms. Wang appealed with the Tangshan City Intermediate Court. The higher court ruled to uphold their original verdicts around January 17, 2022 and ordered that Mr. Fu and Ms. Geng, who were released on bail earlier due to health conditions, be taken back into custody in the Fengrun District Detention Center.
As Ms. Geng was still found to have high blood pressure, she was denied admission and released the same day. Mr. Wei was held in the detention center for five days and taken to the Jidong Prison on January 22, 2022.
Officers from the Qishuzhuang Police Station deceived Ms. Geng into going to the Fengrun District Detention Center on June 16, 2023 with the excuse of a physical examination. She was detained on the spot and transferred to the Hebei Province Women’s Prison in Shijiazhuang City, the province’s capital, on September 8.
Related reports:
Five Hebei Residents Sentenced to Up to Eight Years for Their Faith
Targeted in a Police Sweep, Five Hebei Residents Tried for Their Faith
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