Ms. Deng Guiqiu from Tianjin Sentenced to Three Years in Prison

Name: Deng Guiqiu
Gender: Female
Age: Unknown
Address: Tianjin
Occupation: Unknown
Date of Most Recent Arrest: September 19th, 2010
Most Recent Place of Detention: Hexi Detention Centre
City: Tianjin
Persecution Suffered: Imprisonment, home ransacked, interrogation, detention

Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Deng Guiqiu from Tianjin was arrested on September 19th, 2010, and taken to the Hexi Detention Centre. On March 17th, the Hexi Court secretly sentenced her to three years in prison. Detention centre and court officials prohibited her from appealing.

Arrest and the Ransacking of Her Home

On the evening of September 19th, 2010, Ms. Deng was distributing materials detailing the persecution of Falun Gong at Hongqi Beili, Youyi Road. Officer Wang Yang, Ge Haidong, and others from Youyi Road Police Station arrested her. The next afternoon, over ten people from the Tianjin Hexi Division, Tucheng Police Station and the Shuguang Street Committee searched her home with a “search warrant” that was not signed by any authorising government official.

Policeman Lin opened the door to the house with a master key. The others rushed in and ransacked her home. However, they did not find anything that they were looking for.

The next evening, two officers from the Youyi Road Police Station harassed her family. They tried to force her family members to sign a “detention certificate,” which would have amounted to acknowledging Ms. Deng's detention as legitimate. Her family members refused to sign.

A few days later, police officer Liu Tao from the pre-trial division of the Hexi Public Security Bureau told her family that an “arrest warrant” had been issued by the procuratorate on the day of the arrest. Her family immediately rejected Liu's claim.

Detention and Secret Trial

Since the end of September 2010, Ms. Deng Guiqiu has been held in the Hexi Detention Centre in Tianjin. Her family has gone there many times to see her, but the head of the facility, Zhang Lihong, has never allowed them to see her. In addition, her family has sent her many letters but never received a reply.

On March 17th, Ms. Deng was secretly sentenced to three years in prison by the Hexi Court. Zhang Lihong told Ms. Deng's husband that she wanted to appeal the sentence. Her family again repeatedly went to the detention centre, but they were never allowed to see her. Her father, who is in his 70s, went to Hexi Court to submit an appeal on her behalf. A court employee who works for Judge Guo Jiang, the presiding official for the case, promised, “Before next Monday (the deadline for appealing), I will see Deng Guiqiu and ask her to write the appeal letter.” On Monday, her family once again went to Judge Guo Jiang's office. They were told that Ms. Deng did not submit an appeal.

Persecuted in a Forced Labour Camp in 2002

In July 2002, Ms. Deng was arrested at her home by Xiaobailou Police Station officers. All her Falun Gong books and her computer were confiscated. Her husband was fired from his job. Their daughter was in third grade at the time.

Ms. Deng Guiqiu was then imprisoned at the Banqiao Women's Labour Camp for one year and forced to do hard labour. Her health consequently deteriorated.

Tianjin Youyi Road Police Station
Wang Jie, director: 022-88293369

Tucheng Police Station in Tianjin
Liu Zongyi, director: 13312023636

Tianjin Hexi Detention Centre
Jia Zhisuo, director: 28382153
Zhao Suhai, deputy director: 28382253
Zhang Lihong, chief: 022-28385518

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2011/4/20/239307.html