(Minghui.org) A 53-year-old woman in Jinzhou City, Liaoning Province, was secretly sentenced to three and a half years for her faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999. Ms. Ma Zhiru’s family only managed to confirm her prison sentence and admission to Ward 12 of the Liaoning Province Women’s Prison around September 2023. They still do not know any other details about her indictment, trial, or sentencing.
Ms. Ma was arrested at around 4 p.m. on February 15, 2023, by three female and over ten male officers from the Linghe District Police Department and its subordinate Zijing Police Station. Two of the female officers dragged Ms. Ma all the way to a cruiser, while the third policewoman videotaped them.
Ms. Ma was taken to the Jinzhou City Women’s Detention Center. Without her family’s knowledge, the Linghe District Court sentenced her to 3.5 years on an unknown date and she was transferred to Ward 12 of the Liaoning Province Women’s Prison (located in the capital city of Shenyang) around September 2023. According to insiders, female Falun Gong practitioners who refuse to renounce their faith are tortured in Ward 12, which to the outside world is called the “Emergency Training Correctional Ward,” when in fact it is a prison inside a prison, its sole purpose to “break” steadfast Falun Gong practitioners.
This is not the first time that Ms. Ma has been targeted for her faith. She was previously twice detained. Her husband was unable to cope and divorced her.
Health Restored
Ms. Ma began to suffer from various ailments around 2000. She had severe anemia (with a hemoglobin count of 6 grams per deciliter when a normal range for females is 12 to 16 g/dl). Cervical spondylosis, low back pain, and severe gynecological diseases further made life unbearable. When no medical treatments helped, she turned to Falun Gong and soon became illness free.
Two Prior Detentions
Despite the ongoing persecution, Ms. Ma persisted in practicing Falun Gong because of its tremendous health benefits. She also used several ways to raise awareness of the persecution. In the fall of 2006, she was arrested for distributing Falun Gong informational materials in a residential complex. She was held in custody for nine hours before being released.
Ms. Ma and her husband, who did not practice Falun Gong, were arrested at home in the summer o 2007. She was held for six hours and her husband for two hours. The police beat her husband savagely while he was in custody, and he could no longer cope with the relentless persecution. After he was released, he tried to stop Ms. Ma from practicing Falun Gong and even destroyed some of her Falun Gong books. Because Ms. Ma remained firm in her faith, her husband eventually divorced her.
Related Report:
12th Ward in Liaoning Women’s Prison Designated to Persecute Falun Gong Practitioners
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