(Minghui.org) It was recently confirmed by Minghui.org that an 80-year-old Zibo City, Shandong Province, resident has been admitted to the Jinan Woman’s Prison to serve a 3.5-year term for practicing Falun Gong. Falun Gong, also called Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Li Jinghua was arrested in October 2022 by officers from the Nanding Police Station, after being reported for talking to people about Falun Gong. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the police soon released her on a one-year bail. They later submitted her case to the local procuratorate, resulting in her indictment. Ms. Li was taken back into custody at the Zibo City Detention Center in 2023 and sentenced to prison, with a 5,000-yuan fine, by the Zhangdian District Court in August 2023.
This July marked the 25th year since the start of the persecution of Falun Gong by the Chinese communist regime. The persecution remains unabated and the regime shows no leniency when it comes to elderly practitioners. Below is a selection of sentencing cases from the past several years of practitioners who are in their 80s, including an 86-year-old man who was given seven years.
Practitioners Who Have Suffered Physical Conditions in Custody
Mr. Chen Renlin, 87, from Changzhou City, Jiangsu Province, was arrested on August 25, 2019, and sentenced to seven years with a 40,000-yuan fine in January 2022. He was admitted to Suzhou Prison around May 2023. The prison refused to release him even after he became incapacitated.
Ms. Yao Jingjiao, 85, from Jieyang City, Guangdong Province, was arrested on June 14, 2020, and released on bail the next day. The police and the local street committee kept harassing her at home. Her bail conditions were renewed twice, in June 2021 and June 2022. The Jiedong District Court sentenced Ms. Yao to three years with a 30,000-yuan fine in November 2022. She was admitted to the Guangdong Province Women’s Prison in July 2023. The prison refused to release her on medical parole even when she suffered from persistent high blood pressure.
Ms. Lin Chunzi, 81, from Mudanjiang City, Heilongjiang Province, was arrested on June 10, 2021 and sentenced to four years in prison later in the year. Although the judge initially allowed her to serve time outside of prison due to her poor health, she was arrested again on February 11, 2023 and taken to the Heilongjiang Province Women’s Prison days later. She weighed less than 80 pounds and was in a wheelchair when she was admitted to prison. Her health has continued to decline since.
Ms. Bai Yuzhen, an 81-year-old resident of Xinyang City, Henan Province, was arrested at home on June 22, 2021. She was tried on December 14, 2021 and sentenced to three years. She was transferred to the Xinxiang Women’s Prison in early January 2023. Ms. Bai suffered high blood pressure, hearing loss, and swelling in her legs and feet. The prison refused to provide medical treatment unless her family agreed to pay the medical bill.
Ms. Zhao Zhaoquan, 84, from Luzhou City, Sichuan Province, was taken away from home by staffers of the Jiangyang District Court on November 10, 2021, to undergo yet another physical exam. Prior to that, the authorities had forced her to undergo checkups multiple times since June 2021 to see if she was fit for detention. After the latest physical exam confirmed that Ms. Zhao was healthy enough to be imprisoned, the authorities kept her in custody and secretly sentenced her to two years. She was admitted to the Sichuan Province Women’s Prison in mid-February 2023 and her health has rapidly declined since. An insider revealed to Ms. Zhao’s family that other incarcerated Falun Gong practitioners had been taking care of her. An official directly told the family that there was no way for the prison to release Ms. Zhao because she is a political prisoner and her family could just wait to pick up her ashes.
More Sentencing Cases
Ms. Shen Jinye, 82, from Huangmei County, Hubei Province, was arrested on October 4, 2019, for talking to people about Falun Gong. Although she was released later that day, she was arrested again on April 9, 2022, also for talking to people about Falun Gong. Shortly after her second release, the police submitted Ms. Shen’s case to the Wuxue City Procuratorate. She was put under house arrest on April 18, 2023, and indicted on May 17. Ms. Shen was made to attend a virtual hearing on July 20, 2023, and was sentenced to 1.5 years on July 24, 2023.
Ms. Han Yuxia, an 81-year-old Tianjin resident, was arrested on October 29, 2019, for talking to people about Falun Gong. She was released on bail on December 1, 2019, and arrested several more times after that. Ms. Han was sentenced to four years by the Hexi District Court on April 26, 2023.
Ms. Deng Chunxian, 83, from Beijing was arrested on April 23, 2020, and released on a one-year bail the next day, after the local detention center refused to admit her due to her high blood pressure. She stood trial at the Fengtai District Court on April 11, 2023, and was sentenced to three years around June 15, 2023. Ms. Deng is still out on bail at the time of writing, due to her medical condition.
Ms. Hu Xingxi, another Beijing resident in her 80s, was also arrested on April 23, 2020. The Fengtai District Court sentenced her to three years with a 3,000-yuan fine on March 30, 2023.
Ms. Yu Fangzhuang, 91, from Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province, was arrested on July 1, 2020, and sentenced to six months on December 21, 2020. When she was released on May 20, 2024, she told her family that inmates once poured boiling water over her head when she was washing herself. On another occasion, the guards shackled her for three days and forced her to sleep on the upper bunk bed, despite her age.
Ms. Li Shunhua, 84, from Maoming City, Guangdong Province, was arrested on October 23, 2020 and sentenced to one year on February 28, 2023. She was transferred to the Guangdong Province Women’s Prison on September 12, 2023.
Ms. Liu Junhua, an 80-year-old retired physician from the hospital affiliated with Southwest Petroleum University in Nanchong City, Sichuan Province, was arrested on March 11, 2021, for distributing Falun Gong materials. She was sentenced to two years by the Shunqing District Court on March 17, 2023, and admitted to the Sichuan Province Women’s Prison on March 27, 2024.
Ms. Liang Shuzhi, 87, from Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, was arrested on June 8, 2021 and sentenced to three years on March 27, 2023. The Shenyang City No. 1 Detention Center refused to admit her due to her health.
Ms. Feng Fengyun, an 85-year-old Jilin City, Jilin Province resident, was arrested on January 22, 2022, while having dinner at her son’s home. She stood trial at the Changyi District Court in June 2023. The judge sentenced her to four years with a 6,000-yuan fine on August 31, 2023.
Ms. Wang Jinzhen, an 83-year-old Dezhou City, Shandong Province resident, was arrested on March 5, 2022, and later sentenced to three years with a 10,000-yuan fine. She was allowed to serve time outside of prison.
Ms. Huang Mingfang, an Anlu City, Hubei Province resident in her 80s, was arrested on December 6, 2022, and released on bail later that day. The police broke into her home on July 20, 2023, and took her to the Anlu City Court for a hearing. She appeared in court again on May 10, 2024, and experienced some dizziness during the session. Ms. Huang was later sentenced to one year and is currently held in the Anlu City Detention Center.
Ms. Liu Guibi, 82, from Chongqing, was arrested on February 16, 2023, after being reported for talking to people about Falun Gong. She appeared in the Jiangbei District Court on July 4, 2023. The judge initially sentenced her to six months, but later declared it a mistrial and resentenced her to one year on August 25, 2023. She was taken to the Chongqing Women’s Prison on December 5, 2023, after losing her appeal on November 7.
Ms. Gao Qiongxian, an 84-year-old wheelchair-bound woman, was taken away in an ambulance from her home in Kunming City, Yunnan Province on May 9, 2023, by a group of officers who pried open her door. She was taken into custody to serve a six-year term handed down by the Xishan District Court on April 19, 2022.
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