80-Year-Old Retired Minister of the Prefectural Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Propaganda Bureau Again Sentenced

Name: Wang Shengli
Gender: Male
Age: 80
Address: Fuyang City
Occupation: Retired Minister of the Prefectural CCP Propaganda Bureau
Date of Most Recent Arrest: December 5th, 2010
Most Recent Place of Detention: unknown
Persecution Suffered: Detention, imprisonment, deprived of welfare

Mr. Wang Shengli, an 80-year-old retired Minister of the Fuyang City Prefectural Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Propaganda Bureau, has been a steadfast Falun Gong practitioner. Police arrested him when he was having dinner with friends on December 5th, 2010, and sentenced him to a three-year prison term. Ms. Ma Yuling, who is in her forties and from Linquan County, was arrested at the same time and sentenced to a three-year prison term for practising Falun Gong.

Mr. Wang was nominated as a voluntary assistant of a Falun Gong group in the Fuyang District in 1994. He was physically and mentally healthy, and everyone who knew him admired Falun Gong's miraculous powers.

During the unprecedented suppression of Falun Gong by the Jiang Zemin, [former leader of China and instigator of the persecution] regime, Mr. Wang has experienced repeated persecution, including confiscation of personal property, imprisonment, and torture. He was sentenced to a four-year prison term in 2004. On his release, the Chinese Communist Party official told him that his wages of several thousand yuan¹ would be restored to him only if he submitted the three statements to renounce practising Falun Gong. Nothing could deter him from practising Falun Gong, so he was not moved by the threat of losing his salary.

Mr. Wang was having dinner with eight practitioners including Ms. Ma Yuling at about 7:00 p.m. on December 5th, 2010, when the national security staff and police from Linquan, Fuyang arrived and arrested them. Higher authorities didn't approve the arrests of practitioners Dai Zonglin, Zhang Tingjiang, and Yuan Yongmin, so the police sentenced them to forced labour, which also was denied by higher authorities, resulting in the release of all three. Yu Zuzhi experienced symptoms of high blood pressure and stroke due to mistreatment by police. Yu was bailed out by his family and recently returned home. Li Chunmin was released. However, the police filed a lawsuit against Mr. Wang Shengli, Ms. Ma Yuling, Yuan Xiaoqiong, and Yu Zuzhi in Linquan Court.

The Linquan Court originally scheduled the trial for Mr. Wang Shengli, Ms. Ma Yuling, Yuan Xiaoqiong, and Yu Zuzhi on the morning of November 16th, 2011. After the news was published on the Minghui website, the court changed the trial date to November 18 at 9:00 a.m. Five attorneys, including one court-appointed attorney, agreed to enter not-guilty pleas for the four practitioners. The presiding judge could not find proof of misconduct or criminal activities in the file. When the presiding judge asked, "According to the information submitted to the court, there is no proof of an illegal gathering of eight people. I only see that many people were having dinner together. Why was it regarded as an illegal gathering?" Tao Jingwen, the prosecutor, was speechless for several minutes and then said, "Having dinner together is also a gathering." The court didn't announce a verdict.

Recently it was learned that Mr. Wang Shengli and Ms. Ma Yuling were each sentenced to three-year prison terms. In October 2011, Yu Zuzhi was released for medical treatment, and Yuan Xiaoqiong was released and returned home in March 2012.

Xin Aimin, Fuyang City 610 Office head: +86-13805580855 (mobile)
Fang Zhi, former Fuyang City Procuratorate prosecution director: +86-558-6537257
Tao Jingwen, Linquan County Procuratorate prosecutor: +86-13855823311 (mobile)
Liu Xinhua, Linquan County Public Security Bureau Domestic Security Division instructor: +86-13966589736 (mobile)
Huang Zongqin, Linquan County Public Security Bureau Domestic Security Division head: +86-5586510214 (home), +86-13966583546 (cell phone)
Li Jixuan: +86-5586510675 (home), +86-13855823266 (mobile)
Liu Xinhua: +86-5586516991 (home), +86-13966589736 (mobile)
Han Chunfang: +86-5586515936 (home), +86-13956758072 (mobile)
Detention centre: +86-5586512245
Politics and Law Committee: +86-5586512757
Procuratorate: +86-5586512614
Court: +86-5586512149
Bureau of Justice: +86-5586510148

Note

1. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.