(Minghui.org) According to insiders, the Heilongjiang Province Political and Legal Affairs Committee (PLAC) is pressuring a trial court in Qiqihar City to retry a woman whose case the court had dismissed.
Ms. Qu Shurong, a Qiqihar resident, was tried on October 9, 2016 for spreading information about Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline being persecuted by the Chinese communist regime. Her lawyer argued that no law in China criminalizes Falun Gong and refuted the prosecution evidence obtained by torture.
The presiding judge dismissed the case, but Ms. Qu remains detained following her arrest on November 8, 2015.
Ms. Qu’s family visited Longsha District Court, the Longsha District Procuratorate, and the Wulong Police Station many times to seek her release. Each of the three agencies, however, kept giving the family the runaround by deferring to the other two agencies.
Upon the family’s protest, the three agencies revealed that only the PLAC could decide Ms. Qu’s fate.
The PLAC, which has branch offices at every level of government, is an organization tasked with carrying out orders from the Chinese Communist Party's central leadership to eradicate Falun Gong in China. They direct law enforcement agencies and the judiciary to arrest and imprison Falun Gong practitioners and force them to renounce their faith, often through violence and torture.
Ms. Qu’s family inquired with the Qiqihar PLAC and was referred to the local Appeals Office, which referred them back to the PLAC.
The family has a relative working in the provincial government. He recently told the family that the municipal PLAC consulted with the provincial PLAC and that the latter had insisted on sentencing all arrested Falun Gong practitioners to prison.
The court is being asked to sentence Ms. Qu to two years in prison. Ms. Qu’s family has hired two new lawyers to defend her.
Related Report:Judge Tosses Out Prosecution Evidence Obtained by Torture; Woman Remains Detained For Her Faith
