Judge Reverses Previous “No Jail Time” Decision, Orders Ailing 85-year-old Woman to Be Imprisoned
(Minghui.org) An 85-year-old woman suffering dangerously high blood pressure was recently taken back into custody to serve a five-year term for practicing Falun Gong, even though she had been previously allowed to serve time outside of prison due to her poor health.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Hu Keying
Ms. Hu Keying, of Zhoukou City, Henan Province, was sentenced to five years by the Chuanhui District Court back in 2017 and ordered to serve time outside of prison.
In 2019, the judge ordered the bailiff to take Ms. Hu, then 83, into custody under the excuse of “stability maintenance.” She was first held at the Zhoukou City Detention Center and then taken to the Xinxiang Women’s Prison. After the prison refused to accept her due to her advanced age and high blood pressure, the police took her back to Zhoukou and held her in the detention center for two more weeks before releasing her.
In January 2021, the Political and Legal Affairs Committee in Henan Province, an extra-judiciary agency overseeing the persecution, ordered the local judiciary agency to re-evaluate the qualifications of Falun Gong practitioners who were previously allowed to serve time outside of prison or were released on medical parole.
Ms. Hu was taken back to the hospital and underwent a physical examination. As it was determined that she failed to meet the qualifications for the exemption of no prison time, the judge ordered that she be taken back to the Zhoukou City Detention Center in early June. By then, her blood pressure had increased again and remained around 230/130 mmHg.
Ms. Hu was scheduled to be taken to the Xinxiang Women’s Prison in late June. It remains unclear whether she has been transferred to prison or is still in the detention center.
In addition to Ms. Hu, two other practitioners in their 80s were also taken back into custody in recent months to serve time.
Ms. Li Minfang, an 82-year-old resident of Baoji City, Shaanxi Province, who was sentenced to five years last year, was first taken back to the local detention center on May 11, 2021. Although the detention center refused to accept her due to her age, the police arrested her again a month later on June 11 and forced the detention center to accept her.
After 81-year-old Ms. Chen Guifen was ordered to go to the hospital for a physical examination, the Chongqing resident was taken back into custody on April 6, 2021 to serve a 1.5-year term. Before she was convicted, the police subtracted five years from her age in order to press charges against her.