Law Officials Sentence Ms. Zhao Deqiong at Her Home

Around 3:00 p.m. on March 7th, 2012, more than a dozen people including Zhang Guangxiang, director of the Shunqing District 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) in Nanchong City, Sichuan Province, judge Xu Wenying from the Shunqing District Court, officials from the Shunqing Procuratorate, a local residential committee, and a local police department broke into Ms. Zhao Deqiong's home. Judge Xu Wenying entered the bedroom where Ms. Zhao was bedridden and ordered her to sit up and answer questions.

Xu declared that Ms. Zhao was guilty of using a heretical organisation to undermine the implementation of law because she appealed for justice for Falun Gong and wrote “Falun Gong is good and Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good” on a girl's hand in the park. Xu said, “We will wait for five minutes. If you cooperate, you will be allowed to delay your sentence for three years, and your salary will not be stopped. If you do not cooperate, you will be sentenced to three years in prison and your salary will be stopped.” No one said anything in reply. Xu continued, “When the five minutes are up, it means that you agree.”

All of the officials on site announced their names and titles, and then they left.

Ms. Zhao is in her 60s and is a retired worker from the Nanchong Oil Refinery. Before she began practising Falun Gong, she had many illness and was bedridden and incontinent. After she began practising Falun Gong in 1997, she followed the principle of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance in order to become a better person. She became healthy again. However, after the persecution of Falun Gong began on July 20, 1999, she has been arrested, detained, extorted money several times, and has suffered mental and physical persecution.

Persecuted for Appealing

In 2009, Ms. Zhao wrote an appeal letter to the Sichuan Appeals Office about the persecution she suffered for practising Falun Gong. Her letter exposed how the officials from the local 610 Office, the police department, her workplace, and the local residential committee had persecuted her. For example, Du Weijia, deputy director of the Shunqing District Domestic Security Division, took Ms. Zhao's house key and confiscated many of her personal belongings after entering her home. Officers also threatened her family members.

On July 30th, 2010, police from the Shunqing District Police Department tried to arrest Ms. Zhao and threatened to sentence her to four years in prison. At that time, Ms. Zhao was on the verge of death as a result of the persecution she suffered, and she was at the hospital. Her family members strongly protested the arrest, so she was not taken away.

Sent to Brainwashing Centre for Exposing the Persecution of Falun Gong

On the morning of July 24th, 2011, Ms. Zhao went to Beihu Park in Nanchong to distribute leaflets exposing the persecution of Falun Gong to people. After she spoke with a girl, the girl asked her to write “Falun Gong is good and Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good” on her hand. Later, the girl brought over the park police. The police took Ms. Zhao to their office and confiscated her bag.

The park police called the Shunqing District Domestic Security Division, and deputy director Du Weijia came to the office. Du deceived Ms. Zhao, saying they would send her home. Instead, judge Xu sent her to the Xishan Brainwashing Centre. Ms. Zhao was tortured there and became incontinent. The next morning, her children were called to take her home.

A week later, two officials from the brainwashing centre came to Ms. Zhao's home and tried to force her to renounce Falun Gong. Later, another official from the brainwashing centre, Pang Renhao, called Ms. Zhao's daughter, telling her to come to the centre and copy a letter renouncing Falun Gong for Ms. Zhao, intending to force the daughter to sign for her mother.

Unjustly Sentenced

One month later, two police officials from the Shunqing District Domestic Security Division, Hu Changhong and Tang (female, given name unknown), verified that Ms. Zhao sent an appeal letter to the Sichuan Province Appeals Office. From August 2011 to March 2012, deputy director Du Weijia and officials from the Shunqing District 610 Office, Shunqing District Court, and Shunqing District Procuratorate continued to harass Ms. Zhao and tried to force her to renounce Falun Gong. She repeatedly refused to do so.

On March 7th, 2012, these officials moved the courtroom to Ms. Zhao's home while she was bedridden and sentenced her to three years in prison.