(Minghui.org) An 81-year-old Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, resident lost the appeal she filed contesting a 3.5-year prison sentence on December 30, 2024, for her faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Judges Tang Junguo, Zhou Tianyue, and Chen Juntao of the Guangzhou City Intermediate Court claimed that they upheld Ms. Zhao Ying’s original verdict because she had the potential to cause serious harm to society.
Ms. Zhao is still being held in the Tianhe District Detention Center and is struggling with a number of serious illnesses, including bladder cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. Her family is asking that the international community pay attention to her case and help rescue her.
The ordeal of Ms. Zhao, a retired bank manager, stemmed from her arrest on April 26, 2021, for distributing informational materials about Falun Gong. After she was released on May 11, 2021, due to high blood pressure, the police kept harassing her at home.
The mental pressure of the persecution took a toll on Ms. Zhao’s health. She fainted at home on December 12, 2021, and was diagnosed with bladder cancer. She was operated on twice and had several rounds of chemotherapy and immunotherapy.
Ms. Zhao’s family received a call from the Haizhu District Procuratorate on December 8, 2022, saying that she had been indicted. Wei Xiaoming and Liu Jiayuan from the Haizhu District Court delivered a hard copy of the indictment to Ms. Zhao on February 22, 2023. The indictment listed two pieces of prosecution evidence: 1) she placed a Falun Gong brochure in the basket of an e-bike outside the E2 building in the Tangyayuan subdivision in Tianhe District on April 21, 2021, and 2) she rode her bike to the Yimengyuan Apartment Complex in Tianhe District on April 26, 2021, and intended to distribute Falun Gong flyers there. The flyers were allegedly in her bag which was placed in the bike basket.
Ms. Zhao entrusted a relative to serve as her non-lawyer defender in March 2023. The defender went to the court but was barred from reviewing her case file. The court later harassed Ms. Zhao numerous times and ordered her to show up in court to stand trial or have them come to her home to hold a hearing of her case. She said no to both. She also refused to be represented by the court-appointed lawyer, who was instructed by the authorities to enter a guilty plea on her behalf.
Meanwhile, Ms. Zhao’s family defender mailed letters to Sun Taiping, secretary of Guangzhou City Political and Legal Affairs Committee, and Guo Hua, head of the Tianhe District Police Department, saying that even if Ms. Zhao distributed Falun Gong materials, she was exercising her freedom of expression and didn’t violate any laws by doing so. It’s not clear whether he received any response.
Ms. Zhao returned to her hometown in Huaian City, Jiangsu Province, in July 2024, accompanied by her daughter. When she returned on August 1, 2024, the police arrested her at the Guangzhou City Train Station, accusing her of “trying to escape.” Ms. Zhao argued that the one-year bail condition she was given on February 22, 2023 had already expired, and she was free to travel anywhere, anytime. The police still put her in the Tianhe District Detention Center.
Ms. Zhao was made to stand trial in the Haizhu District Court on September 5, and sentenced to a 3.5-year prison term and a 5,000-yuan fine on October 29, 2024. She appealed with the Guangzhou City Intermediate Court, which ruled on December 30, 2024 to uphold the original verdict. The judges accused her of “trying to escape” and stated that she was “harmful to society.” Ms. Zhao is now preparing to file a motion to reconsider her case.
The authorities in Guangdong Province are notorious for persecuting elderly Falun Gong practitioners. Ms. Yao Jingjiao was sentenced to three years in 2022 when she was almost 83 years old. She became critically ill while serving time in prison, and passed away on November 20, 2024, just weeks after she was released on parole. She was only a month shy of her 85th birthday.
Related Reports:
80-Year-Old Guangdong Woman Stands Trial for Practicing Falun Gong
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