(Minghui.org) A 65-year-old woman in Shanghai was sentenced to one and a half years in prison for refusing to renounce Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline being persecuted by the Chinese communist regime.
Ms. Qin Yuexiu credits Falun Gong for curing her rheumatoid arthritis and improving her quality of life. She was arrested on August 10, 2017. Agents from the local Chengzheng Police Station ransacked her home but did not take inventory of the confiscated items or give her family a list of such items before they left.
Days later, her husband, who is in his late 60s, was summoned to the police station to sign a list of confiscated items. He had trouble recalling what was taken from his home and was pressured into putting his name on the list. Unbeknownst to him, police used the signature to turn him into a prosecution witness.
Ms. Qin's husband was not allowed to attend her trial on March 23, 2018, because he was a “prosecution witness.”
Ms. Qin's lawyer entered a not-guilty plea for her, and she also testified in her own defense.
The presiding judge recessed the hearing for 15 minutes. When he resumed the hearing, he announced her sentence of one and a half years in prison.
This is not the first time that Ms. Qin has been targeted for her faith. She was sentenced to three years in prison in 2000. She missed her son's wedding and her grandchild's birth during her imprisonment.
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