(Minghui.org) After more than one year of detention, a Beijing resident was recently sentenced to 3.5 years in prison for practicing Falun Gong, a mind-body discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Guo Xiulan, 59, was arrested on May 3, 2020, for talking to a salesperson about Falun Gong, while shopping for furniture. Her husband, Mr. Yang Baozhu, was also arrested. Although he was released on June 9, Ms. Guo remained detained in the Changping District Detention Center.
Ms. Guo was indicted on November 11, 2020. She appeared twice in the Changping District Court, first in December 2020 and then in June 2021. Her family recently confirmed that she was sentenced to 3.5 years and has been transferred to the Beijing Women’s Prison.
Past Persecution
Ms. Gao took up Falun Gong in February 1999 and soon saw her uterine fibroids and severe anemia disappear. She followed the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and became a good wife and daughter-in-law.
However, she was detained three times and served three years in prison for her faith prior to her latest arrest. Her husband and daughter were frequently harassed as well.
Agents of Changping District 610 Office arrested Ms. Guo in November 1999, four months after the persecution began. She was taken to a brainwashing class in the Changping District and forced to read and watch materials slandering Falun Gong.
She was arrested again in October 2004 and held in a resort-turned-brainwashing center.
Her next arrest was on January 13, 2005, for telling people the facts about Falun Gong. When she was detained in Beiqijia Detention Center, she was interrogated and tortured every day. Since her family was not notified of her whereabouts, she had no basic necessities, from toilet paper to menstrual pads, to a change of clothes.
She was later sentenced to three years in Beijing Women’s Prison, where several inmates were ordered to monitor and restrict her use of restroom and meal time. She was often subjected to brainwashing aimed to force her to renounce her faith as well.
Worried about her, her mother was unable to eat or sleep well. The mental distress took a toll on her health and she passed away shortly after.
For filing a criminal complaint in 2015 against Jiang Zemin, the former leader of the communist regime who ordered the persecution, Ms. Guo was arrested one more time on July 20, 2015. Ten police officers opened her door with a master key and ransacked her home. Her father-in-law was pushed to the ground.
The arrest took place during a time when the military was conducting training at the military base in the Changping District for the military parade coming up on September 3, 2015, as part of the celebration of the 70th anniversary of victory over the Japanese during World War II.
Ms. Guo was detained in the local detention center for a month before being transferred to a brainwashing facility. She wasn’t released until the parade was over.
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