(Minghui.org) A 76-year-old woman in Yantai City, Shandong Province, was sentenced to 3.5 years with a 15,000-yuan fine in November 2023 for her faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999. The police fabricated witness accounts as “evidence” to frame her.
Ms. Yu Caiyun, a widow who lives alone in Gaoling Town in the Mouping District of Yantai City, was arrested on May 11, 2023. Four officers from the Gaoling Town Police Station broke into her home at around 10:30 a.m. that day and confiscated her Falun Gong materials. When she refused to sign the interrogation transcript, one of her two sons was summoned to the police station to sign on her behalf. She was released on bailthat afternoon.
Ms. Yu was arrested again at 9 a.m. on July 20, 2023, for talking to people about Falun Gong at a fair. Six officers raided her home and confiscated her Falun Gong materials. She was released under house arrest at 8 p.m. that night.
The police notified Ms. Yu on September 25 that she had again been placed under house arrest. In early October 2023 she returned home to find someone had slid an indictment against her under her door. The indictment, which was issued by the Mouping District Procuratorate, stated that on May 11 and July 20, 2023, the Gaoling Town Police Station confiscated from her home Falun Gong books, music players, notebooks, copy paper, and a variety of items with Falun Gong messages. including brochures, amulets, decorative carved gourds, and calendars.
Three officers from the Gaoling Town Police Station showed up at Ms. Yu’s home at 6 a.m. on October 30, 2023, to take her to her hearing at the Mouping District Court. They took her home at 4 p.m. A court clerk told her that she was facing a prison sentence of between three or four years but there was, as yet, insufficient evidence.
After the hearing, Ms. Yu visited the two witnesses for the prosecution mentioned at her trial: Fang Yujing (who lives in Lijia Village) and Qu Xiaoguang (a native of Shangpan Village who does odd jobs out of town from time to time). The police alleged that they had both reported her for distributing Falun Gong informational materials. Fang and Qu firmly denied ever having reported her or been asked to sign anything against her. She realized that the police had fabricated evidence against her.
A government employee delivered Ms. Yu’s verdict to her home on November 27, 2023. The court issued its ruling without holding another hearing even though one of its clerks acknowledged the lack of evidence.
The verdict included two additional prosecution witnesses, Kong Qingming and Xue Qianhui. It also repeated some information in the indictment, including what items were confiscated from Ms. Yu’s home on May 11 and July 20. However, the number of confiscated items differed from what was stated in the indictment. Also, a new name, Xu Jianshan, appeared in the verdict. Xu was said to have witnessed both police raids.
The identities of the three new “witnesses”—Kong, Xue, and Xu—were not indicated in the verdict.
Ms. Yu’s husband passed away years ago and her two sons work out of town. The repeated harassment and arrests since May 2023 have taken a toll on her health. She is now emaciated and has trouble seeing. It’s unclear when she may be taken back into custody to serve time.
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