(Minghui.org) A 81-year-old woman was sentenced to four years for practicing Falun Gong, a mind-body improvement discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Ms. Hou Shuang, a Beijing native living in Changchun City, Jilin Province, was arrested for distributing informational materials about Falun Gong on April 26, 2019. She was soon released on bail due to high blood pressure. The police assigned her younger brother, who also lives in Changchun, to be her guarantor.

As her younger brother, 75, later became sick, she moved in with him to take care of his wife, who has been bedridden after suffering a stroke a few years ago. After the police located her cellphone at her brother’s place, they arrested her on August 28, 2019 and accused her of violating bail.

Ms. Hou was first held at Changchun No.4 Detention Center and later transferred to Changchun Central Hospital after she fell ill.

The police notified her family on October 24, 2019 that she had been sentenced to four years by Kuancheng District Court.

Ms. Hou’s lawyer visited her at the hospital on October 28, 2019. He has filed an appeal with Nanguan District Intermediate Court on her behalf.