(Minghui.org) A 65-year-old woman in Fushun City was sentenced to 3 years in prison for intending to attend the trial of two practitioners of Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline being persecuted by the Chinese communist regime.

Ms. Meng Xiu’e, a local power company employee, also practices Falun Gong. She decided to show her support upon learning that two of her friends, Hao Lizhong and Zhao Jing, would be tried for refusing to renounce Falun Gong at the local Nangou Detention Center. As soon as she got off the bus on October 14, 2016, a stranger stopped her asking, “What are you here for?” She replied, “I’m going to attend the trial [of Hao Lizhong and Zhao Jing].”

The stranger seized her right away. She learned later that the man was an officer from the local Guchengzi Police Station. Her home was ransacked that afternoon, and police confiscated a lot of her personal belongings.

Ms. Meng was interrogated with torture, and she was also deprived of sleep for three straight days. Wei Zhenxing, head of the local Domestic Security office, also forced Ms. Meng’s family to pay 20,000 yuan without specifying any reason.

The local procuratorate forwarded the case to the Shuncheng District Court on January 4, 2017, and Ms. Meng appeared in court on February 28.

Many of Ms. Meng’s colleagues went to the courthouse, but they were barred from going inside because they didn’t have their IDs with them. They were baffled, as spectators for trials of non-Falun Gong practitioners were never required to present IDs.

Ms. Meng’s lawyer entered a not guilty plea for her. He argued that no law in China criminalizes Falun Gong and that his client had every right to attend other Falun Gong practitioners’ trials.

Ms. Meng’s family was informed in October that she has been sentenced to prison. She was transferred to Liaoning Province Women’s Prison one month later. Her company suspended her pay in December.