(Minghui.org) A 78-year-old woman in Chonqing was sentenced to 18 months on June 26, 2024 for practicing Falun Gong, a mind-body discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999. Ms. Zhu Jingrong refused to sign the verdict and has filed an appeal. She is currently out on bail and it’s not clear when the authorities plan to take her back into custody.
The sentencing of Ms. Zhu stemmed from her arrest in June 2023. Because of distributing informational materials about Falun Gong on June 5, 2023, she was reported to the police and arrested two days later by six officers from the Beibei District Police Department and two staff members from the Mingju Neighborhood. The police ransacked her home without showing their IDs and confiscated her Falun Gong books, a portrait of the founder of Falun Gong, and some paper currency printed with information about Falun Gong (as a way to raise awareness about the persecution given the strict censorship in China).
Ms. Zhu was taken to the Caijia Police Station for interrogation. She tried to clarify the facts about Falun Gong to the police, including how she became a better person and saw her heart and stomach condition and rheumatoid arthritis disappear after she took up the practice in December 1998. She urged the police not to participate in the persecution and refused to sign the interrogation records.
Later in the day, the police took Ms. Zhu to the Beibei Chinese Medicine Hospital for a physical examination. She was found to have dangerously high blood pressure and was taken back to the police station. The police kept her handcuffed overnight and didn’t give her any food.
When the police took Ms. Zhu to the local detention center the next day, she was denied admission due to her high blood pressure. She was released on bail on June 8.
The police took Ms. Zhu back to the Caijia Police Station on July 18 and questioned her about where she got her Falun Gong materials and who printed the messages on the paper currency. She refused to answer their questions. The police eventually forced her to sign an acknowledgment of the items confiscated from her before allowing her to go home.
A police officer called Ms. Zhu’s 80-year-old husband on November 24, asking him whether she was home. She got on the phone and asked the police if they had any questions for her. The officer said they needed her to go to the police station to sign a document, which would then be forwarded to the local court. Ms. Zhu said she had to stay home to take care of her ailing husband, who has trouble walking, and told them she wouldn’t go.
The police showed up at Ms. Zhu’s home the next day, still asking her to sign the document (it’s not clear what exactly the document was). When she refused to sign, the police said to her, “It doesn’t make any difference whether you sign it or not. The court will still sentence you without your signature. We won’t be so nice to you the next time we come.” Then they left.
Officers from the Shijialiang Town Police Station and several community workers arrived at Ms. Zhu’s home on December 6 and took photos of her. Her husband was terrified. He said, “They won’t let me live a peaceful life. They are so evil and won’t even spare someone in his 80s.”
Six community workers came again on December 20, 2023 to check if Ms. Zhu was at home, in compliance with her bail conditions.
Ms. Zhu received a call from the Beibei District Procuratorate on January 15, 2024, ordering her to go to the procuratorate three days later. She went there as required and was told that her case had been transferred to the Jiangbei District Procuratorate. The prosecutor of the Jiangbei District Procuratorate deposed her on February 2.
Officers from the Beibei District Police Department came to Ms. Zhu’s home on February 4, with the Falun Gong materials confiscated from her. They said they came to verify the amount of the materials and would submit her case to the procuratorate. She refused to sign the relevant documents.
For the next few weeks, the local police and community workers often came to harass Ms. Zhu. Her husband was terrified each time and he suffered elevated blood pressure as a result. One of the episodes of harassment was on April 16, by community worker Chen Haixia, a colleague of Ms. Zhu’s, and a police officer named He Yu.
Ms. Zhu was indicted around April 19. She received a call from the Jiangbei District Court on April 23 to pick up a summons. She went to the court on April 25 and picked up her hearing notice, which was scheduled for 9 a.m. on May 8.
Ms. Zhu appeared in court on May 8. Her lawyer entered a not guilty plea for her. The judge adjourned the hearing without announcing a verdict. She returned home later that day.
Officers from the Caijia Police Station called Ms. Zhu’s daughter on May 13 and ordered her to pick up her bail release documents. Ms. Zhu went to the police station on May 16 and saw the Jiangbei District Court put her on bail from May 8, 2024 to May 7, 2025. She returned home after that.
The court informed Ms. Zhu on June 25 that they would announce her verdict at 3 p.m. the next day. She went to the court the next afternoon and was sentenced to 18 months. She refused to sign the verdict, which bore the signatures of judge Wang Guoping and prosecutor Liu Jie. She filed an appeal against the verdict and is now awaiting the result.
Related Report:
77-Year-Old Woman Harassed and Threatened with Prison Sentence for Practicing Falun Gong
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