(Minghui.org) A 62-year-old woman in Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, was sentenced to five and a half years with a 10,000-yuan fine on September 8, 2022, for her faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Ms. Zhang Li, an accountant by training, was reported for talking to two students about Falun Gong on November 19, 2020. Agents from Datang Police Station raided both her and her mother’s homes on December 16 before arresting her. The police didn’t find what they could use and released her on bail.
Huale Police Station personnel raided Ms. Zhang’s home on March 10, 2021. Officer Chao Yangxian of the Datang Police Station called her many times and ordered her to report to them to be interrogated.
On June 11, 2021, during one such interrogation session, officer Chao told Ms. Zhang that they had been recording everything she said that day and that the recording would be used as evidence against her. He submitted the interrogation record to the Yuexiu District Procuratorate at the end of the month. He and prosecutors Du Zhiqiang and Hu Huiwen went to Ms. Zhang’s home on July 7, 2021, to inform her that her case was now formally in the hands of the procuratorate.
The trio warned her family to cooperate with them or they’d take her back into custody. They ordered her and her family to respond to every phone call and every summons they made.
The Yuexiu District Procuratorate transferred Ms. Zhang’s case to the Liwan District Procuratorate in October 2021. Ms. Zhang wrote a letter and mailed copies of it to Datang Police Station, the Yuexiu District Police Department, the Yuxiu District Procuratorate, and the Liwan District Procuratorate.
She wrote about how Falun Gong restored her health and improved her character. She emphasized that the persecution of Falun Gong lacked legal basis from the beginning. She urged them to remove her bail conditions and dismiss her case. She also called Liwan District Procuratorate and urged them not to prosecute her for her faith.
The Liwan District Procuratorate submitted her case to the Liwan District Court at the end of 2021 and she was taken back into custody on January 17, 2022. The court sentenced her on September 8, 2022.
Past Persecution
After the persecution began on July 20, 1999, Ms. Zhang went to the provincial government in Guangzhou to appeal for justice for Falun Gong. The police picked her up, drove her far away, and dropped her off. She had to find her own way home.
Ms. Zhang went to the State Council Appeals Office in Beijing at the end of 1999 to appeal for Falun Gong. She was arrested, taken back to Guangzhou, and held for 15 days.
Ms. Zhang made another trip to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong and was arrested on Tiananmen Square on June 11, 2000. The police handcuffed her behind her back. One officer lifted the handcuffs, and three others pushed her back to force her to kneel. They broke her left arm.
Ms. Zhang went to Dongguan City, Guangdong Province, in 2000 to distribute information about the persecution of Falun Gong. She was arrested and held in Dongguan Lockup for a month before being given three years of forced labor. She was brutally tortured in Sanshui Forced Labor Camp. The guards didn’t let her sleep or use the restroom for extended periods of time. Two inmates were assigned to watch her around the clock, and they forced her to watch propaganda slandering Falun Gong. She was shocked with electric batons on the chest, face, and legs. Her legs were also once tied up.
She was arrested on August 16, 2015, for talking to three students about Falun Gong. After she was released the next day, agents from Huale Police Station and Huale Street Committee kept harassing her at home.
Chepo Police Station officers seized her on December 4, 2016, and held her in the Tianhe District Detention Center for ten days. Officers from Huale Police Station and the Huale Street Committee harassed her afterward.
Ms. Zhang was arrested on June 16, 2019, for talking to people about Falun Gong near a shopping mall. She was held at the Yuexiu District Detention Center for 37 days.
In addition to these arrests, Ms. Zhang was also held in the Guangzhou Legal Education Center (a brainwashing center in disguise) three times. Her hands were once cuffed to window frames with her feet off the ground. She was not allowed to use the restroom or sleep. Other times she was forced to stand, with videos slandering Falun Gong played all day long in front of her.
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