(Minghui.org) A 38-year-old Beijing resident was sentenced to two years in prison in September 2018 for giving out flyers bearing information about Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted in China since July 1999.
Ms. Cheng Xiaofu was transferred to Hebei Women’s Prison on August 30, 2019. She was no longer herself when her family visited her two months later. She couldn’t recognize her loved ones. She was also irritable and sometimes exhibited violent behavior. Her mother suspects that Ms. Cheng might have been given nerve-damaging drugs in detention.
Arrest and Detention
Ms. Cheng used to work in Tianjin as an account. She took up Falun Gong in 1997 and her severe vertigo went away shortly afterwards.
Ms. Cheng and her husband, Mr. Hu Jun, were caught on surveillance camera distributing informational flyers about Falun Gong on April 16, 2018. The police tracked them down by their vehicle license plate and arrested them the next day.
After ransacking the couple’s home, the police went to the elementary school their son was attending and took him to the Mapo Police Station for interrogation.
Ms. Cheng was traumatized by the arrest and fainted after a relapse of her vertigo. The local Nihe Detention Center refused to take her.
The police then drove her to the police hospital. On the way there, they beat her in the car, even though she was still unconscious.
She was transferred from the hospital to Nihe Detention Center a month later.
Mr. Hu was released on bail on April 18, 2018.
Court Hearing and Sentence
The Shunyi District Court held a hearing on September 29, 2018. Only Ms. Cheng's parents were allowed to attend the hearing. Her lawyer entered a not-guilty plea. The judge adjourned the hearing without issuing a verdict.
After Ms. Cheng was taken back to the detention center, the guards forced her to take unknown drugs for her dizziness, which seemed to make her condition even worse.
When she later refused to take the medication, the guard put her in handcuffs and shackles around the clock.
Ms. Cheng was sentenced to two years in prison with a 2,000-yuan fine in December 2018.
Mental Decline in Just Two Months
After Mr. Cheng was transferred to Hebei Women’s Prison on August 30, 2019, she was forced to attend brainwashing sessions on a regular basis and she was also denied family visits.
The prison authorities suddenly called her family and asked them to come and visit her in early November 2019.
When her husband and mother rushed to the prison and saw her on November 11, Ms. Cheng was unresponsive. She couldn’t recognize them, nor would she speak to them. She was occasionally irritated and seemed anxious. A guard told the family that she sometimes assaulted the guards.
When Ms. Cheng’s mother asked her if she had been drugged, the guard quickly interrupted and said that she was fine according to a hospital checkup.
Related report:
Parents Arrested for Their Faith, Young Son Interrogated by Police
