(Minghui.org) When a Tianjin resident’s family tried to visit her in the Wuqing Detention Center in late April 2020, they were told that she has been sent to Tianjin Women's prison to serve a six-year term for her faith in Falun Gong.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual and meditation discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since 1999.
Ms. Gao Yuming was arrested on February 9, 2020 and it remains to be investigated when she was sentenced and transferred to prison.
Prior to her latest arrest, Ms. Gao was targeted in a group arrest of 37 Falun Gong practitioners in Tianjin on December 28, 2017. Although she was released on bail on February 2, 2018, the police continued to harass her and threatened to sentence her to prison.
Fearing the persecution, Ms. Gao went into hiding, only to be arrested again a year later. Another practitioner who stayed with her in the rental place, Ms. Gao Shouchun, was also arrested on the same day.
The local court reopened Ms. Gao Yuming’s case and swiftly sentenced her without following legal procedures or notifying her family.
Ms. Gao was the eighth practitioner among those arrested in Tianjin on December 28, 2017 to have been sentenced. The longest term was 11 years, given to a dentist, Mr. Li Yongquan.