The CCP continues its campaign to identify members of the banned group. When caught, they go to jail.
by Marco Respinti
Despite claims by the CCP that Falun Gong has been “eradicated” in China, there are still cases of practitioners arrested and sentenced. Shi Ningyao, from Liaoning Province, who was sentenced to five years in prison, is one of these practitioners.
On February 7, 2021, Rights Defender launched an appeal on behalf of Shi, who is currently serving her term in in Liaoning Provincial Women’s Prison, formerly Dabei Women’s Prison, also known as Dabei No. 5 Prison.
Shi was born in 1979 in Fushun City, Liaoning Province, and studied in the United Kingdom, where in 2005 she encountered Falun Gong and became a practitioner. After graduation, she came back to China, and worked for a company in the Dalian Development Zone, Liaoning Province.
Unfortunately, the police in Dalian City soon became aware that she was a Falun Gong practitioner. On July 4, 2009, she was arrested and taken to the Wucai City Police Station in Dalian City Development Zone, where she was beaten by the agents.
The next day, while the police were asleep, she was able to escape from the station, and lived underground for the next eight years. On October 8, 2017, however, the Dalian City State Security was able to arrest her again, during a larger crackdown operation against members of banned religious movements known as xie jiao.
In November 2017, she was indicted under Article 300 of the Chinese Criminal Code, which punishes those active in a xie jiao. She was told that her case was serious because she had “defamed” the CCP by sending via the Internet information about the persecution of Falun Gong in China.
In March 2018, Shi was committed to trial before the Dalian Development Zone Cult, which on June 2018 found her guilty under Article 300, and sentenced her to five years in jail. The decision has been confirmed on appeal by the Dalian Intermediate Court, and, considering the long pre-trial detention, Shi is expected to remain in jail until October 7, 2022.
This is not the only recent case of Falun Gong practitioners identified and sentenced to jail terms. Bitter Winter has learned that on November 16, 2020, the Intermediate People’s Court of the prefecture-level city of Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province, ruling on appeal in the case of Falun Gong practitioners Liu Qiusheng, Yu Songsi, and Fang Pinglan, sentenced them respectively to jail penalties of five years for Liu, two years and six months for Yu, and one year and six months for Fang.
On December 17, 2020, the People’s Court of Quwo County, in the prefecture-level city of Linfen, Shanxi Province, sentenced Falun Gong practitioners Chen Lin, Shi Wenyan, and Guo Suling under Article 300, although the penalties were comparatively lenient. Guo received a three-year jail penalty, but the sentence was suspended.