Jiangmen Falun Gong Practitioner received her first clemency
Information provided by a Dui Hua interlocutor confirmed that Falun Gong practitioner Xie Qing (谢清), a Jiangmen resident in her late 50s, received her first sentence reduction of five months in June 2024.
Xie was born in Nanning, Guangxi and lived in Jiangmen with her husband Yu Rongxin (余荣新). The couple were convicted of using a cult to undermine implementation of the law in December 2018 and their appeals were rejected by the Jiangmen Intermediate People’s Court in March 2019. Xie and Yu were sentenced to seven and a half years in prison and eight and a half years in prison, respectively.
The couple has practiced Falun Gong since the 1990s. Yu had been responsible for coordinating and training Jiangmen practitioners. The couple were accused of disseminating and stamping banknotes with “cult” messages. The police also found large quantities of Falun Gong publications and digital materials at their home.
Yu was granted his first sentence reduction of seven months in June 2022. According to Chinese government sources, Yu has behaved well in Beijiang Prison. He and his wife exchanged letters of encouragement with each other.
Xie is serving her sentence at Guangdong Women’s Prison. Although the prison recommended a seven-month reduction, the court decided to apply restrictions of leniency due to the crime. Xie will be released in October 2024.
Elderly Falun Gong Partitioners to receive clemency in Fujian
Tang Lianzhi (唐莲芝), a 79-year-old Falun Gong practitioner, will receive a seven-month reduction. Originally from Qiqihar, Heilongjiang Province, Tang has taken temporary residence in Fujian where she is currently held.
She was accused of, during 2018, using robot call Apps on a mobile device to make over five thousand calls to random numbers and broadcasting Falun Gong audio messages. The police found books and audio recordings of Falun Gong materials.
Tang was convicted of using a cult to undermine the implementation of the law on November 9, 2018, by the Siming District People’s Court in Xiamen. The Xiamen Intermediate People’s Court rejected her appeal a month later and upheld the conviction and the sentence of seven years in prison. Tang is scheduled for release in February 2025.
Fujian Women’s Prison submitted a recommendation of a seven-month sentence reduction for Tang in June 2024. If granted, this will be the first clemency she will receive.
Activist appeal rejected in Shandong, completed sentence for incitement
Activist Li Qiaochu (李翘楚) completed her three years and eight months’ prison sentence and was released from Linyi Detention Center on August 3, just a week after her appeal was rejected by the Shandong High People’s Court on July 26. Since being taken into custody in February 2021, her trial was repeatedly postponed until the Linyin Economic and Technological Development Zone People’s Court convicted Li of inciting subversion in February 2024.
Supporters and activists have expressed concerns that Li will continue to face strict surveillance as she began to serve her two years of deprivation of political rights supplemental sentence.
Pastor, member of Shanxi House Churches serving sentences for organizing illegal border crossings
Du Liangming (杜亮明), the 76 years old pastor of a house church in Xinzhou, Shanxi has been convicted of organizing illegal border crossings and sentenced to five years in prison. He is imprisoned at Yangquan Prison.
Li Yanping (李艳萍), a member of the Baode House Church in Xinzhou, was sentenced to seven years for the same crime. Li is 61 years old and imprisoned at Shanxi Women’s Prison.
Du and Li were both detained on March 15, 2021, and tried in 2022. The specific acts leading to their prison sentences remain unknown.
The authorities have used similar illegal border crossing charges against house churches in the region and elsewhere in China.
In 2020, preacher An Yankui (安彦魁) and several members of a house church in Taiyuan, Shanxi attended a Christian conference in Malaysia. Although they traveled with valid passports, An and another church member Zhang Shenghao (张乘豪) were detained in November 2021 for illegal border crossing. In November 2022, both were convicted and given a one-year suspended sentence by the Fenyang People’s Court.