Mr. Wang Jinglun, 76, Sentenced to Seven Years of Imprisonment in Heilongjiang Province

Mr. Wang Jinglun, 76, is a retired teacher. He had worked at the Shengli Town High School in Bin County, Heilongjiang Province. Mr. Wang had helped develop the talent of many students and is highly respected in the educational community of Bing County. This well-respected educator was recently sentenced to seven years of imprisonment because he practises Falun Gong.

The court's sentence generated a great awakening in his community. Many people said that the Chinese Communist Party was doomed since it deemed it necessary to inflict such a heavy sentence on a good person.

Further details: On the afternoon of December 1st, 2008, the Bin County Court in Heilongjiang Province put Mr. Wang and three other practitioners on trial. The trumped-up charge was "undermining the implementation of law." The government prosecutor charged the practitioners on the evidence that they had gathered at Mr. Wang's home on the evening of August 12th, 2008. There, the police found Falun Gong books, Falun Gong informational materials that detailed the persecution of Falun Gong, and a printer to make the materials.

Regarding this charge, Mr. Wang and the other practitioners all proclaimed to the court that they were innocent of any wrongdoing. Their lawyer, Wei Junlin from the Shengong Law Firm in Heilongjiang Province, firmly entered a plea of not guilty on their behalf. He also told the court that practising Falun Gong, telling people about the practice, and talking about the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) persecution of Falun Gong were all legal under the Chinese constitution. The lawyer also stated that the practitioners were innocent of any crime, and, therefore, the court had to release them unconditionally.

While in court, lawyer Wei Junlin also said, "Falun Gong promotes Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and teaches people to be good. It is simply not a cult, as the CCP claims."

Facing the rational and unassailable defence put forth by the practitioners' lawyer, the CCP prosecutors and the judge could not respond. Before and after the trial, the local practitioners many times explained the facts about the persecution to the court personnel who were in charge of the practitioners' cases. The practitioners urged them to respect the law and human rights and to stand on the side of justice. They asked them to unconditionally release Mr. Wang and the other practitioners. However, the judge and other officials broke the law. Ten days later, the court passed a sentence of seven years imprisonment on Mr. Wang, and the other practitioners were sentenced to three to four years.

Within two days, Mr. Wang and the other practitioners appealed to the Harbin Intermediate Court. We urge the Bin County Court to correct this miscarriage of justice and unconditionally release Mr. Wang and the other three practitioners!

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2008/12/27/192361.html