(Minghui.org) A 76-year-old resident of Kunshan City, Jiangsu Province was recently notified that she had been sentenced to one year and four months for her faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Ms. Ling Xiuying was taken into custody days later on May 26. She was first held at Suzhou City Fourth Detention Center and then transferred to Zhenjiang City Women’s Prison on May 29.
Ms. Ling’s sentencing stemmed from her arrest in 2022, when Kunshan police harassed many local Falun Gong practitioners and arrested a few of them. The local detention centers refused to admit the arrested practitioners due to an outbreak of COVID-19. The police then released them on bail, including Ms. Ling.
It is unclear whether a trial was ever held before Ms. Ling’s sentencing.
Ms. Ling’s health started to decline in her 30s. She developed various illnesses over the years, including severe neurosis, migraine, gastroptosis, duodenal ulcer, bronchitis, uterine fibroids, and cervical spondylitis. No medical treatment or folk medicines helped. All her symptoms, however, disappeared after she began practicing Falun Gong in June 1997. She also became happier and more broad-minded.
Ms. Ling was talking to people about Falun Gong on July 10, 2020, when she was arrested by agents from Bingxi Police Station and Kunshan City Domestic Security Office. Her husband and son, who did not practice Falun Gong, showed the police her past medical records and said Falun Gong restored her health. The police released her on bail.
The police took Ms. Ling back into custody in May 2021. Her husband was also seized at the same time. While interrogating her at Bingxi Police Station, an officer from Kunshan City Domestic Security Office threatened to sentence her to prison. She was so traumatized that she fainted. Her husband warned the police that he’d hold them responsible should anything happen to her. The police then sent the couple home, but still threatened to come back after they “dealt with” another practitioner.
The police indeed targeted Ms. Ling again in 2022, which eventually led to her latest sentencing.
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