(Minghui.org) After nearly one year in detention, a Beijing resident was sentenced to 7.5 years on June 27, 2025 for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since 1999.
Ms. Wei Suwen, born in February 1960, was arrested on June 13, 2024, for mailing letters with information about Falun Gong. While being interrogated at the street committee office, she had chest pain, and her face turned pale. Despite her condition, the police still gave her 10 days of administrative detention.
Ms. Wei was arrested again on August 15, 2024, while walking in Tiantan Park. The arresting officers from the Tiantan Police Station confiscated her three cell phones and raided her place. She was held at the Tiantan Police Station that evening and transferred to the Dongcheng District Detention Center around midnight.
The Dongcheng District Procuratorate approved Ms. Wei’s arrest on August 30. She was charged with “undermining law enforcement with a cult organization,” the standard pretext used to criminalize Falun Gong practitioners in China. Prosecutor Miao Rongrong returned her case to the police on November 30 and the police resubmitted it on December 16, 2024.
Ms. Wei was indicted on January 16, 2025. She appeared in the Dongcheng District Court on February 18. Her lawyer entered a not guilty plea for her. Only one member of her family was allowed to attend the hearing.
The presiding judge, Bai Chongwei, sentenced Ms. Wei to 7.5 years on June 27, 2025.
Prior to her recent ordeal, Ms. Wei was given two years of forced labor in 2006. She was forced to sit motionless on a small stool from 4 a.m. to 12 a.m. the next day. Her buttocks festered and bled, causing excruciating pain.
64-Year-Old Beijing Woman Arrested for Practicing Falun Gong