(Minghui.org) A 69-year-old Yueyang City, Hunan Province, resident, was sentenced to 3.5 years in early 2024 for her faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Tang Gemei was arrested at her daughter’s home in Nanjiang Town (which is under the administration of Yueyang City) on July 4, 2023. She was detained at the Yunxi District Detention Center in Yueyang and later sentenced by the Pingjiang County Court in early 2024 (exact time unknown). She has been admitted to the Hunan Province Women’s Prison after her wrongful conviction. Details about her indictment, trial, and sentencing aren’t clear.
This is the third time that Ms. Tang, a retired hydroelectric power company worker, has been sentenced for practicing Falun Gong.
Ms. Tang was first arrested in October 2001, after she was reported to the police for trying to stop officials from her workplace from writing slanderous messages about Falun Gong.
During her 37-day detention at the Pingjiang County Detention Center, the guards held her in solitary confinement for three days, and poured cold water onto her body three times, after finding that she did the Falun Gong exercises. Her family paid over 1,000 yuan as a fine and 400 yuan for her food in exchange for her release.
Ms. Tang was arrested again in August 2002 and had her home ransacked. Police smashed open her front door. At the Domestic Security Office, the police interrogated her for four days. They didn’t allow her to sleep or sit, but forced her to stand or kneel down. When she refused to comply, officer Li Jianzhou beat her with a wooden club. When she still refused to kneel down, Li beat her with a thicker club.
This time, Ms. Tang was detained for seven months and released on February 27, 2003. She was forced to pay 1,000 yuan for the food and fined 1,500 yuan.
Ms. Tang was arrested and had her home ransacked again on November 4, 2003. The authorities kept her at the county detention center for 30 days and often handcuffed and shackled her.
Following her next arrest in December 2006, Ms. Tang was sentenced to three years at the Changsha City Women’s Prison and subjected to various tortures for refusing to renounce Falun Gong.
Ms. Tang stayed at her son’s home in Shunde City, Guangdong Province to help take care of her grandson in 2019. She was arrested on May 16, 2019 after being reported for distributing Falun Gong materials. She was later sentenced to 3.5 years in prison with a 5,000 yuan fine.
After Ms. Tang was taken to the Guangdong Province Women’s Prison on May 10, 2020, her family wasn’t allowed to visit her. In a letter sent by the prison on December 2020, her family learned that she had developed a severe heart condition, high blood pressure, and carotid atherosclerosis (the hardening of carotid arteries). They applied for medical parole for her, but the prison authorities demanded a bail amount of 100,000 yuan before they would approve the request. Unable to pay the money, her family had to abandon the application.