Couple from Daqing City Sentenced

Name: Xia Xianfang (wife,) Zhang Shiping (husband)
Age: Xia 56, Zhang 58
Address: Unknown
Occupation: Daqing No. 8 Crude Oil Extraction Facility
Date of Most Recent Arrest: August 5th, 2009
Most recent place of detention: Daqing City No. 1 Detention Centre & Datong District Detention Centre
City: Daqing
Province: Heilongjiang
Persecution Suffered: Beatings, imprisonment, solitary confinement, torture, forced-feedings, fired from workplace, physical restraint, interrogation, detention

Key Persecutors:
Cheng Guangyu, deputy director of the Operative Brigade of Datong District Police Branch Station
Liu Fuguo, officer with the Operative Brigade in the Datong District Police Branch Station: 86-459-6272358 (Home), 86-13394650881 (Mobile)
Gaotaizi Second Police Branch Station: 86-459-6171568, 86-459-6083111
Cui Lianwu, director of Gaotaizi Second Police Branch Station
Wu Zhencai, political leader of Gaotaizi Second Police Branch Station
Zhang Xiaotang, officer with the Seventh Community Police Affairs Brigade: 86-459-6083138, 86-13394651297 (Mobile)

On January 9th, 2010, Datong District Court in Daqing City imposed a five-year prison sentence on Ms. Xia Xianfang and a four-year prison sentence on Mr. Zhang Shiping, her husband. Both are Falun Gong practitioners from Daqing No. 8 Crude Oil Extraction Facility.

At around 4:00 p.m. on August 5th, 2009, Ms. Xia was reported to the authorities while she was talking to people about Falun Gong in the third residential district of Daqing No. 8 Crude Oil Extraction Facility. Zhang Xiaotang, an officers from Gaotaizi Police Branch Station, arrested her and searched her. Zhang Xiaotang and other police officers entered her home using the keys found in the search. They confiscated her PC, printer, and other items. Mr. Zhang, her husband, was at home at the time, so the police arrested him, too.

Ms. Xia and Mr. Zhang were separately detained in the Datong District Police Bureau in the evening. Ms. Xia was locked in an iron cage. On the evening of August 6th Ms. Xia was detained in City No.1 Detention Centre and Mr. Zhang in the Datong District Detention Centre.

After being held in detention over the four-month legal limit, Datong District Court held a trial without notifying the couple's family. The court sentenced Mr. Zhang to four years in prison and Ms. Xia Xianfang to five years in prison. The case has been appealed to Daqing City Intermediate Court.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2010/1/9/215978.html