(Minghui.org) Ms. Liu Zhonghua from Laixi City, Shandong Province was sentenced to three and a half years’ imprisonment by the Laixi City Court due to her practice of Falun Dafa. She was taken to the Shandong Province Women's Prison on September 13, 2018.

Falun Dafa, also called Falun Gong, is a traditional mind-body cultivation practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Ms. Liu's family had no knowledge of the trial, let alone the sentencing. They learned the information only when they received a letter from the Shandong Province Women's Prison notifying them that Ms. Liu had been taken to the prison in mid-September 2018.

Ms. Liu had been previously imprisoned in May 2007 when she was sentenced to five years for installation of a satellite dish to receive broadcasts of New Tang Dynasty TV, an independent TV station that broadcasts uncensored news, including information about Falun Gong and the situation in China. 

Ms. Liu took the risk of being arrested again when she talked to police officers in July 2017 about the persecution of Falun Gong. The police immediately arrested her. She was detained until the sentencing in September, when she was taken to prison.