Four Falun Gong Practitioners from Xinzheng City in Henan Province Sentenced to Prison

Ms. Chen Xihong, Ms. Jia Jinhui, Ms. Zhang Shuling and Ms. Chen Xiaoni from Xinzheng City in Henan Province were arrested by police on the night of October 15th, 2010 because they practise Falun Gong. In May 2011, they were sentenced to between three and three and a quarter years in prison.

Officials at Xinzheng court and the Procuratorate did not issue an indictment against the practitioners, nor did they inform their families of the verdict. During the appeals process, the practitioners' families were still not informed of the proceedings. In mid-December 2011, officials at Zhengzhou Intermediate Court upheld the original decision, and the practitioners were taken to Xinxiang Women's Prison in Henan Province.

During the fourteen months when the practitioners were detained in Xinzheng Detention Centre, they were made to do forced labour, working for more than ten hours a day gluing paper boxes. This form of work is actually against the detention centre rules. But whenever government officials went to visit or inspect the detention centre, the products and work tools were removed and hidden from view. Then work resumed as normal when the officials left.

The relevant authorities involved in the persecution include: Xuedian Town Police Station, Hezhuang Town Police Station, Xinzheng Domestic Security Division, Xinzheng Police Department, Xinzheng Detention Center, Xinzheng Politics and Law Committee, Xinzheng 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong), Xinzheng Procuratorate, Xinzheng Court, Zhengzhou Court, Zhengzhou Politics and Law Committee, Henan Prison Administration Bureau and Xinxiang Women's Prisons.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2012/1/1/251317.html