(Minghui.org) A 72-year-old woman in Pingdu City, Shandong Province, was admitted to the Shandong Province Women’s Prison on June 22, 2026, to serve a one-year-ten-month term because she practices Falun Gong.
Ms. Zhang Yumei was arrested on June 3, 2025, after police spotted her putting up posters about Falun Gong. She was taken to the Qingdao City Detention Center, which is located in Pudong Town, Jimo District. Qingdao oversees Pingdu City.
Officers from the Zhugou Town Police Station submitted the case to the Pingdu City Procuratorate on August 26, 2025. Ms. Zhang was indicted on September 26, 2025, and stood trial at the Pingdu City Court on November 12, 2025. She was sentenced to one year and ten months and fined 8,000 yuan on April 2, 2026. Her appeal was rejected by the Qingdao City Intermediate Court at an unknown time, and she was transferred to prison on June 22.
Past Persecution
Ms. Zhang, an elementary school teacher, began practicing Falun Gong in the winter of 1996. Her many ailments, such as depression, tracheitis, and liver disease, soon disappeared. After the Chinese Communist Party ordered the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999, she was repeatedly targeted for upholding her faith.
She was given a one-year forced labor camp term in 2007. Between 1999 and 2017, the police extorted nearly 30,000 yuan from her and her family. Many of her valuables, such as a TV, a VCD player, and a music player, were confiscated. The police also used the money extorted from her and other local Falun Gong practitioners to eat at restaurants or to go on vacations.
When Ms. Zhang was detained, her husband was under so much pressure that he had severe insomnia and smoked heavily. The pressure took a toll on his health. He became ill and passed away in April 2012.
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Two Shandong Women in Their 70s Sentenced to Prison for Practicing Falun Gong
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