(Minghui.org) Ms. Wu Peiwen from Shantou City, Guangdong Province, was sentenced to one year in prison on June 24, 2019, for not renouncing her faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
This is the second time that Ms. Wu has been sentenced for her faith. She was previously given three years in 2004.
Ms. Wu was last arrested on November 28, 2018, while reading Falun Gong books at home. The police submitted her case to the Jinping District Procuratorate in February 2019. She was indicted and her case was forwarded to the Jinping District Court on March 18, 2019.
Ms. Wu was forced to do strenuous slave labor during her six months of detention and her health declined. Her tuberculosis that was cured by practicing Falun Gong recurred.
When she appeared in court on May 22, 2019, she coughed up blood. She complained that her legs and hands had hurt for over two months as a result of the mistreatment in the detention center. The judge ordered the bailiff to get her a cup of water but did not address her complaint.
Her sister and brother-in-law, both Falun Gong practitioners, weren't allowed to attend the hearing.
Ms. Wu's lawyer entered a not guilty plea on her behalf. The judge frequently interrupted her lawyer's defense.
Ms. Wu also testified in her own defense. She said that she had suffered from severe lung problems for 13 years, from the time she was 19. She tried every drug known, but nothing worked. She was grateful that her condition disappeared only a few days after she took up Falun Gong.
She said that, because she refused to give up her faith, she was arrested and detained five times and sentenced to prison once over the past 20 years.
Her account during the hearing:
“I was first arrested on March 27, 2000, when I went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. I was detained for 15 days with my mother Ms. Yuan Lifang, my sister Ms. Wu Peijuan, and her husband Mr. Xu Daoming. The police extorted 20,000 yuan from my brother-in-law before releasing us. We were also forced to report to the residential committee every day.
“Three months later, on July 1, the anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party's founding, the four of us, together with two other practitioners, Ms. Xu Yixiang and Mr. Ji Weike, were put under house arrest at my sister's home for 25 days. The police and local residential committee hired people to watch us around the clock.
“I was arrested again in 2001 and forced to attend a brainwashing session. I was released before the session ended, because the authorities feared that I might infect others after I had some lung condition and kept coughing.
“I was arrested for the fourth time on May 12, 2004. The police forced me to stand for two days without sleep to try to get information about other practitioners from me. They also threatened me, telling me that it would be fine if they beat me to death. I didn't comply and was later sentenced to three years in prison. I served time outside of the prison.
“In recent years, the authorities installed a surveillance camera outside of my home. They frequently harassed me on sensitive days.”