Eighty-year-old Falun Gong practitioner Geng Yingfeng in Nanjing has been illegally sentenced again during her wrongful imprisonment term, after being unjustly sentenced to 4 years in 2021. She has been detained at the Changzhou Women’s Prison since then.
Cases reported on Minghui website illustrate that the Chinese Communist Party’s judicial system uses a series of severe illegal actions such as fabricating evidence to illegally sentence Falun Gong practitioners. Recently, two mainland human rights lawyers and former Beijing lawyer Lai Jianping, now residing overseas, were interviewed by the Epoch Times. They exposed the CCP’s autocratic nature, the purpose and means of persecuting Falun Gong, revealing its manipulation of the national machinery, arbitrary trampling of the law, and framing of Falun Gong practitioners.
Lawyer: Persecution of Falun Gong by the CCP is a political task
On August 15, 2017, elderly Geng Yingfeng was abducted by police in her home in Nanjing, taken to the Jingjiang detention center, and illegally held for 16 days.
Over three months later, she was once again taken from her home to the Jingjiang court for an illegal trial, which was not pronounced. After being held for 20 days, she was released.
On March 22, 2018, 80-year-old Geng Yingfeng was once again subjected to an illegal trial and wrongly sentenced to 3 years. Due to health reasons, she was refused entry to the Taixing prison and instead sent home on “bail.” She still had two years left of her sentence.
On August 26, 2019, Geng Yingfeng, along with three other elderly individuals, was kidnapped to the police station while studying the main Falun Gong book, Zhuan Falun. Her 86-year-old husband was also abducted along with her.
Subsequently, Geng Yingfeng was illegally tried at the Yuhuatai District Court in Nanjing. On top of the remaining two-year sentence, she was given an additional two-year illegal sentence and extorted 30,000 yuan. After the Mid-Autumn Festival in 2021, Geng Yingfeng was abducted to the Changzhou Women’s Prison and will not be released until June 2025.
However, the Yuhuatai District Court demanded a fine of 45,000 yuan from her family, providing them with proof of only 30,000 yuan, stating that the extra 15,000 yuan was for “court appearance fees” and refused to provide proof. This 45,000 yuan was the tuition fees saved by Geng Yingfeng’s daughter-in-law for their children’s education.
At 86 years old, Geng Yingfeng remains imprisoned, while her non-self-sufficient 90-year-old husband hopes for her release.
On March 15, 2023, Falun Gong practitioner Zhou Qunhui from Nanchang was kidnapped to the Nanchang detention center by police. Since then, her family has had no word from her. It wasn’t until November when they were informed by a lawyer that she had already been tried. When her family inquired with the presiding judge Zhang Yujuan, the judge mentioned that the sentence would likely be between one to three years.
Angered by the lack of notification and the use of video trials during non-epidemic times, violating the principles of public hearings, the family filed complaints against Zhang Yujuan at the Xihu District Court’s supervision office.
Two weeks after sending out the complaint, Zhou Qunhui was illegally sentenced to 3 years and 2 months, an increase of 2 months from the previous sentence. The judge justified this by claiming they considered Zhou Qunhui’s advanced age and thus reduced the sentence by 3 months.
Despite repeated attempts to inquire about the complaint, the Xihu District Court’s supervision office replied via text that, according to the Political and Legal Committee’s notification, all petitions related to X faith are not entertained.
The family then hired a lawyer to appeal the case. During the review, the lawyer discovered that Zhou Qunhui’s husband was used as the sole witness by the prosecution to accuse Zhou. Her husband revealed that he was coerced into signing at the police station and had no idea when he became a witness against his wife.
After the New Year in 2024, the presiding judge at the Nanchang Intermediate People’s Court and the prosecutor listened to the lawyer’s opinions for an hour. The judge mentioned that they could not make a decision alone. A few days later, the court upheld the original judgment.
Geng Yingfeng and Zhou Qunhui were arbitrarily sentenced by the court, without the need for evidence, legal procedures, notification of the parties’ families, forced assignment of lawyers, or arbitrary fines.
Lawyer Chen (full name withheld for security reasons) believes that “if the CCP manufactures false evidence, it shows that it is still ‘caring,’ according to some standards, and then proceeds to fabricate and provide false evidence, but in many cases, this is not even necessary.”
He stated that in many cases he has handled for Falun Gong practitioners, they simply do not need evidence. He explained, “Just by going to a practitioner’s home and finding a book, or if you have accessed Minghui website, foreign websites, have electronic records, even stored data, they can sentence you.”
The lawyer also pointed out that the CCP does not require details on how much content was produced or disseminated, such as videos or photos. He emphasized, “Just saying you practice Falun Gong and mentioning when you started is enough to convict you. It’s absurd, but that’s the reality.”
As described by the lawyer, Minghui website has reported numerous similar cases. After the abduction of Falun Gong practitioners, the CCP’s judicial system operates behind closed doors, without the need for evidence, avoiding legal procedures, stealthily detaining individuals without notifying lawyers and family members until the practitioners have already been imprisoned for a long time.
For instance, while illegally detained in a detention center, Falun Gong practitioner Zhu Rongzhen from Kunming City, Yunnan Province, was hospitalized due to illness. On December 23, 2011, a CCP court held a secret trial in the hospital. The judge told Zhu Rongzhen, “If you write a guarantee not to practice Falun Gong, you can receive a suspended sentence and go home. If you continue practicing, you’ll be sentenced to 3 years of imprisonment.” Zhu Rongzhen refused to give up her practice and was unjustly sentenced to 3 years.
On September 15, 2010, Ye Qiaoming, a staff member of Fujian Normal University and a Falun Gong practitioner, was illegally sentenced to 3 years with a 4-year reprieve. Dissatisfied with the verdict, he rehired a lawyer from Beijing and appealed to the Fuzhou Intermediate People’s Court. The lawyer pointed out that the “evidence” used in Ye Qiaoming’s conviction in the first instance had not undergone court verification and was not transferred to the appellate court. The judge, Liang Qingrong, from the intermediate court replied to the lawyer by saying, “The public security can omit providing such evidence, and the public security has the right to destroy such evidence.”
In the early morning of February 23, 2022, police raided the home of 67-year-old Falun Gong practitioner Sun Ping in Changchun City, confiscating her computer, printer, Falun Gong books, and other personal belongings. Sun Ping was illegally detained at the Changchun Fourth Detention Center. Over ten months passed without any news reaching her family. It wasn’t until April 2023 when the family was informed by officials from Chaoyang District Court that Sun Ping had been unlawfully sentenced to 5 years.
Former Beijing lawyer Lai Jianping, now residing in Canada, believes that “not only do Falun Gong practitioners suffer torture, but their families are also persecuted,” as “Falun Gong practitioners’ families are treated as accomplices.”
Eighty-year-old Geng Yingfeng, who was unjustly sentenced and further imprisoned, is now being held captive. Her 90-year-old husband, unable to care for himself, worries about his wife. He was kidnapped alongside her in 2019. Additionally, the tuition fees saved by her daughter-in-law for the grandchildren were extorted by the court.
After being abducted and detained, Zhou Qunhui’s husband was coerced by police at the police station to sign documents, portraying him as a witness against his wife.
Cases of persecution reported on Minghui website involving Falun Gong practitioners and their families are numerous.
For example, in February 2008, Falun Gong practitioner Zhang Qi from Chaoyang County, Chaoyang City, Heilongjiang Province, was persecuted three times by the Director of the National Security Brigade, Wu Youyu. Wu ransacked Zhang Qi’s home three times, leaving it in disarray each time. Zhang Qi’s wife was left caring for their two young children with no source of income.
In protest against his persecution, Zhang Qi went on a hunger strike. Wu Youyu relentlessly interrogated and tortured Zhang Qi around the clock, intending to extract a false confession. Despite the torture, Zhang Qi, believing in the innocence of his faith, refused to confess and was ultimately wrongfully sentenced to 7 years.
Zhang Qi’s elderly father, unable to bear his son’s repeated persecution, tragically passed away in fear in 2003.
Lawyer Li (full name withheld) told the Epoch Times that “during the (illegal trials) process, they (CCP police) can systematically use various forms of torture on Falun Gong practitioners to break their will.”
As reported on Minghui website, in the process of suppressing and persecuting Falun Gong practitioners, the CCP employs a wide range of cruel tortures and laws, drawing from historical and modern sources, torturing practitioners both physically and mentally. Even the families of Falun Gong practitioners are subjected to torture to obtain confessions.
For instance, in 2001 around the Chinese New Year, Falun Gong practitioner Dou Zhenyang in Fushun City, Liaoning Province, was abducted due to his wife Wang Guoying practicing Falun Gong. The mayor, who harbored animosity towards Falun Gong, framed Dou Zhenyang with a baseless charge of “subverting trains.”
Police subjected Dou Zhenyang to the “spread-eagle” torture (forcing the legs wide apart), repeatedly performing it three times until Dou Zhenyang falsely confessed. After the torture, he was taken to a detention center. Witnessing his weakened state, the detention center refused to admit him.
The “610 Office” staff then relocated Dou Zhenyang to an undisclosed facility, avoiding sending him home. After a month of detention, Dou Zhenyang was taken to a public trial. At the assembly, he proclaimed, “I was forced to confess, I am innocent.” Subsequently, he was unlawfully sentenced to life imprisonment and detained at Lingyuan Prison.
The “610 Office” even harassed Dou Zhenyang’s children at school, causing them to frequently fall ill.
Lai Jianping believes that “the CCP has been doing this all along, and they continue to do so today, even more vigorously than before. As we can see with the deepening crisis of its regime, it will become more rampant, ensnaring Falun Gong practitioners, various religious believers, human rights lawyers, vulnerable groups, petitioners, to maintain its dictatorial rule. This is what I have foreseen and observed.”
He expressed that the CCP’s extreme authoritarian regime, which falsely incriminates Chinese citizens, will have two effects: instilling fear, self-imprisonment, creating a chilling effect, and provoking resistance and ardent struggle to overthrow the CCP. He believes that the latter will have a greater impact.
“Eventually, one day, this regime will probably find it difficult to sustain itself, to operate. I personally feel that it may not take too long, maybe two to three years, and this regime will find it difficult to cling on, it should be the time for the entire nation to stand up and say no to the Communist Party.”
(Case sources: Minghui website)