Ms. Li Yanchun Sentenced to Ten Years In Prison

Ms. Li Yanchun of Huludao City, Liaoning Province was sentenced to ten years in prison by the Lianshan District Court in Huludao on November 18th, 2008.

Ms. Li was arrested at her home on June 1st, 2008, by officers from the Lianshan District Police Department and Domestic Security Division. The arresting officers were Zhang Jun, Captain of the Domestic Security Brigade, Liu Shijun, Deputy Captain of the Domestic Security Brigade, and Yang Guirong, Wang Shumin, Zhou Zheren, Zhang Linji and Yu Guiqiu.

The arresting officers searched Ms. Li's home, confiscated many of her personal belongings, interrogated her and, at one point, knocked her down and kicked her in the head before transporting her to the Suizhong Detention Centre in Huludao.

Ms. Li was later taken to the Lianshan District Procuratorate. Prosecutors from the Procuratorate Wang Jun, Zhang Liang, and Zhang Xiaoquan filed charges against Ms. Li in the Lianshan District Court.

Ms. Li was tried in the Lianshan District Court on November 18th, 2008. Ms. Li's family hired attorney Zhai Yihe from the Tianbang Law Firm in Liaoning Province to defend her, and Mr. Zhai entered a plea of not guilty. In a highly irregular move, the judge sentenced Ms. Li while the court was in recess. Ms. Li appealed to the Huludao Intermediate Court but the judge, under pressure from the local 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong), upheld the original sentence. This was not the first time that Ms. Li has been persecuted for her belief in Falun Gong.

Ms. Li is 44 years old and used to work in the petroleum refinery in Huludao. She learned Falun Gong in 1996 and, after the Chinese Communist Party banned Falun Gong and began persecuting its practitioners in July 1999, Ms. Li went to Beijing to appeal. She was arrested at the Huludao Train Station and taken to the Lianshan District Public Safety Bureau. For 35 days she was locked in the Huludao City Detention Centre before she was taken to a brainwashing centre, where she was tortured for two months. After Ms. Li was released, she was fired by her employer because she refused to renounce Falun Gong.

After that, in November 1999, police officers from Longgang District Public Safety Bureau broke into Ms. Li's home to arrest her, but she was able to escape. After this, officers came to her home regularly and harassed her son, frightening him so much that he refused to go to school. Failing to find Ms. Li, police officers harassed her family members as well.

The names of those who participated in Ms. Li's persecution include:

Presiding judge of the Lianshan District Court in Huludao: Li Dehai

Side judges: Yao Li and Zhang Liming

Clerk: Ma Hui

Presiding judge of the Intermediate Court in Huludao: An Jing

Side judges: Zhang Daqing and Gao Ensi

Clerk: Xue Chunlai

Agents of the Huludao City 610 Office: Zhu Rongjiu and Liang Chengdong

Police officers from the Huludao City Public Safety Bureau: Pan Jichun and Gu Changjiang

Lianshan District Public Safety Bureau: Zhang Shaokui

Longgang District Public Safety Bureau: Wang Jie and Yue Hua

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2010/2/1/217387.html