(Minghui.org) A woman with a severe leg injury was arrested, held in arbitrary detention, and wrongfully sentenced to one year in prison for not renouncing her faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
After having served the time at a detention center, Ms. Cai Xin'ou recently returned home in July 2019, emaciated and in poor health.
Arbitrary Arrest and Detention
Ms. Cai, 53, of Changsha City, Hunan Province, was reported for handing out informational materials about Falun Gong on July 30, 2018. Because she was already crippled due to injuries from two accidental falls in the past, one officer suggested they let her go, but Wang Chenghao, another Juzizhou Police Station officer, insisted that they arrest her.
Ms. Cai was taken to the Changsha City Detention Center, where Wang ordered the guards to accept her. She was denied family visits during the entire time she was detained.
During a health exam the next day, the doctor discovered that Ms. Cai’s left leg was fractured.
The detention center didn't seek medical care Ms. Cai, and her condition deteriorated quickly. She was unable to move her right hand two weeks later. Her left leg became paralyzed and she couldn't move it at all a month later.
Sentenced to One Year in Prison
The police submitted Ms. Cai's case to the Yuelu District Procuratorate on October 23, 2018, which returned it to the police on January 7, 2019, citing insufficient evidence.
In the resubmitted document, officer Wang Chenghao added three witnesses, including Zhong Xianyan, Wen Xuelian, and Zhang Longbiao, who were instructed to provide incriminating evidence against Ms. Cai.
She denied ever having met any of the witnesses, who also failed to appear in court to be cross-examined.
The Yuelu District Court tried Ms. Cai secretly on April 12, 2019. She was carried into the courtroom by several bailiffs and sentenced to one year in prison.
Health Recovered by Practicing Falun Gong, Persecuted for Not Giving It Up
Ms. Cai was injured at work in the 1990s and suffered a dislocated lumbar disc and a fractured coccyx. She recovered soon after she began to practice Falun Gong in 1997.
Because she refused to renounce her faith, she was repeatedly harassed, arrested, and sent to brainwashing centers over the past 20 years. Prior to her latest prison term, she was held in labor camps four times for a total of six and a half years.
While in Baimalong Forced Labor Camp in 2008 for a year and a half, she was severely tortured to try to force her to give up Falun Gong.
The guards forced her to stand for long hours with only two hours of sleep every day. She was also denied restroom use and often forced to relieve herself in her pants. The guards didn't let her take a shower even when she had her period.
Sometimes the guards put a piece of paper between her legs and would hit her with a stick when the paper fell. They taped her mouth shut to prevent her from screaming.
