(Minghui.org) A Shenyang City, Liaoning Province resident has been denied family visits since she was admitted to prison over five months ago, despite repeated requests from her family to visit her.
Ms. Wang Jinfeng, 64, was arrested on February 19, 2022, for her faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999. She was sentenced to four years on September 19, 2022, by the Yuhong District Court. She appealed with the Shenyang City Intermediate Court, which ruled to uphold her original verdict on November 24, 2022.
Ms. Wang’s family found out on April 28, 2023, that she had been taken to the Liaoning Province No. 2 Women’s Prison on March 30, 2023, and she is now held in the 4th team in the Tenth Ward. Her family was never notified of her prison transfer.
Ms. Wang Jinfeng
Ms. Wang’s sister went to the prison to visit her in mid-May, only to be told that she was under strict management for not renouncing Falun Gong and denied family visitation. A guard said if Ms. Wang’s husband, son, or daughter-in-law came, they may be allowed to see her. Ms. Wang’s sister explained that her brother-in-law struggled with very poor health, her nephew was very busy with work and his wife had to take care of their young child. The three of them didn’t have time so she came by herself. The guard still rejected her, without being able to provide a valid reason.
Ms. Wang’s family hasn’t received any update about her since then. Prior to her latest sentencing, she was given one year of forced labor in 1999 and sentenced to seven years on February 10, 2010. She was brutally tortured during her previous detentions and her loved ones are very worried whether she would be tortured again this time around.
Violation of Legal Procedures by the Police in Charge of Ms. Wang’s Case
According to Ms. Wang’s family, she was on her way to the Carrefour Supermarket on February 19, 2022, when a group of officers from the Huanghe Police Station suddenly showed up and arrested her. Ms. Wang was so terrified that she suffered a relapse of her heart disease and her blood pressure shot up.
While the police called an ambulance, they changed their mind when the ambulance arrived. Instead of allowing the ambulance to take her to the hospital, they drove her straight to their police station. She was held there for three days, during which time she was given very little food to eat: nothing on February 19, a steamed bun on February 20, and one egg and four small bread rolls on February 21. She became dizzy and almost fainted from hunger and thirst.
Ms. Wang’s purse and the 300 yuan Carrefour shop card were confiscated. With the keys taken from Ms. Wang, the police raided her residence while she was in the police station. They didn’t present a search warrant to her family. Many of her personal items were confiscated. The police fabricated information to be used as prosecution evidence against her and listed her son as a witness against her without his knowledge.
Ms. Wang was later admitted to a local detention center, despite her persistent dangerously high blood pressure (with a reading of 200 when a normal range is no more than 120). She also struggled with tightness in her chest and high blood sugar, was sensitive to loud sounds,s and had poor sleep.
When Ms. Wang’s family went to the Huanggu Police Department (which oversees the Huanghe Police Station) on June 10, 2022, to seek her release, no officer received them or accepted their materials.
The family went to the Huanghe Police Station on the next day and demanded to see Ms. Wang’s detention notice, arrest warrant and list of confiscated items. They waited for over an hour and were still stonewalled. Fu Quan, the deputy police chief, intimidated them.
The officers involved in Ms. Wang’s case included Zhu Huangding, Li Chuncheng, Ning Nan, Zhao Sibo and Lu Zhuojun.
Violation of Legal Procedure By the Prosecutors
After the police submitted Ms. Wang’s case to the Yuhong District Procuratorate, prosecutors Piao Yunjing and Liu Wei were assigned to it.
When Ms. Wang’s family called the procuratorate and asked for the contact information of the prosecutors in charge, the receptionist refused to provide the information. Only when they filed a complaint did a staff member from the complaint process center reveal prosecutor Piao’s information. However, the staff member demanded the family not call Piao for the next few days, as her child was taking the college entrance exam and she would not have time to answer the family’s call. The family agreed.
Meanwhile, the family hired a lawyer for Ms. Wang. The lawyer reviewed Ms. Wang’s case document and had a phone conversation with prosecutor Piao. Even before he got a chance to submit his legal opinion, he was told that prosecutor Piao had already indicted Ms. Wang and moved her case to the Yuhong District Court on June 13, right after the national college entrance exam week.
Ms. Wang’s family questioned how Piao could have had time to work on Ms. Wang’s case if she had been busy helping her child take the college entrance exam. They mailed letters to her on June 16 and 18, 2022, demanding that she withdraw the indictment against Ms. Wang. But Piao ignored their requests. She either refused to answer the family’s calls or claimed that they dialed the wrong number when she picked up the phone.
Ms. Wang’s family also wrote to the procuratorate, requesting that Piao provide a detailed explanation of her decision to indict Ms. Wang, but to no avail.
Violation of Legal Procedure by Trial Court Judges
Judges Jiang Nai and Ge Lidan of the Yuhong District Court held a video hearing of Ms. Wang’s case on August 12, 2022, despite her and her family defender’s objection to virtual hearings. The judges also appointed a lawyer to represent Ms. Wang against her will and instructed the lawyer to enter a guilty plea for her, while denying her sister’s request to represent her as a non-lawyer defender. It is unclear whether Ms. Wang’s own lawyer had dropped her case or was barred from attending the hearing.
During the hearing, the Internet went down several times and the video and audio quality were very poor. No prosecution evidence was presented for cross-examination.
After the hearing, Ms. Wang’s sister returned to the court several times, trying to meet with the court’s president Sun Hao during his open office hours to file complaints against judges Jiang and Ge. The judge who received her said that Sun’s office hours were canceled. He promised to forward her requests to the relevant persons and also urged her to call the court’s discipline inspection and supervision department. But when she called the supervision department as instructed, no one ever answered the call. She mailed several letters to judges Jiang and Ge, as well as court president Sun to demand an open, in-person hearing, but never received any response either.
Judge Jiang announced on September 19, 2022, to sentence Ms. Wang to four years with a 5,000-yuan fine.
Violation of Legal Procedure by Appeals Court Judges
After Ms. Wang’s conviction, her family appealed her case to the Shenyang City Intermediate Court. They demanded judge Ba Hongyan hold an open hearing and uphold justice for their loved one.
Similar to the trial court judges, judge Ba also ignored their requests. While denying Ms. Wang’s sister from reviewing her case documents or visiting her, Ba kept pressuring her to submit the defense statement, so that the appeals court could close the case quickly.
Ba said to Ms. Wang’s sister, “Your request is only your request, but you have to submit the defense statement first. It’s the court’s decision whether to hold a hearing. We won’t do it simply because you requested it.”
When Ms. Wang’s sister didn’t submit the defense statement, judge Ba and her assistant Sun Xiaokang blamed her for not fulfilling her duty as a family defender and threatened to disqualify her from representing Ms. Wang. Ba also asked her whether she practiced Falun Gong herself. She refused to answer the question.
Ms. Wang’s sister later contacted Song Yongzheng, a member of the collegial panel, about his opinion regarding Ms. Wang’s appeals case. Song said it was useless to contact him as he was only a member of the collegial panel and wasn’t in charge of anything else. He urged the family to contact the presiding judge of the case, which was Ba.
Ms. Wang’s sister then called Kong Xianglai, another member of the collegial panel. Kong only said that he had forwarded Ms. Wang’s case document to the person in charge and that the family should contact that person instead, before hanging up the call.
Ms. Wang’s family submitted a few more letters and petitions to demand the court release her on bail, but to no avail as well.
Judge Ba ruled on November 24, 2022, to uphold Ms. Wang’s original verdict.
Tortured During Previous Prison Term
Prior to her latest persecution, Ms. Wang was arrested another time in November 2009 and sentenced to seven years by the Kangping County Court on February 10, 2010.
At the Liaoning Province Women’s Prison, Ms. Wang was subjected to inhumane torture because she refused to renounce Falun Gong. The guards strictly controlled everything she did and didn’t allow her to talk to anyone. She was restricted in getting daily necessities including toilet paper. She was not allowed to use the restroom, wash herself, or dress for the weather. She was also constantly starved.
In addition to long-term sleep deprivation, Ms. Wang was also subjected to constant beating and verbal abuse. The inmates beat and kicked her at will, including grabbing her hair and hitting her head against the wall, forcing her to sit on a small stool motionless for long hours, standing on the concrete ground barefooted, or standing in front of an open window while only wearing her underwear. On other occasions, the inmates poured cold water over her, tied her hands behind her back, tied her up in a spread-eagle position in the bed, held her in solitary confinement, and forced her to do hard labor without pay.
By the time Ms. Wang was released on November 11, 2016, she had developed many severe medical conditions, including heart problems, concussion, high blood pressure, and intensive back pain. Her memory had also declined significantly. She struggled to recover upon returning home before she was arrested and sentenced again.
Related reports:
Two Liaoning Residents Sentenced to Prison, Suffer Severe Medical Conditions in Custody
Two Liaoning Women Stand Trial for Their Faith in Falun Gong
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