(Minghui.org) A woman in her 20s was sentenced to 3.5 years for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual and meditation discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Zheng Feng, a resident of Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province, was arrested in March 2019 and has been held at Ningbo City Detention Center since. She appeared in Zhenhai Court in June 2019. She refused to use the court-appointed lawyer, who had been instructed to plead guilty for her, and testified in her own defense.
Ms. Zheng was sentenced to prison in another court session in late September 2019. Her family has filed an appeal on her behalf.
Targeted for Her Faith
Ms. Zheng graduated from Zhejiang Institute of Media, with a degree in Radio and Television. She was once held in custody on campus for ten days in 2014 for sharing uncensored information she brought back from Taiwan with her classmates.
The school leadership forced her to live with a student assigned by the school to monitor her. The local 610 Office, an extralegal agency created specifically to persecute Falun Gong, also forced her to talk to the school leadership and write “thought reports” periodically.
The authorities withheld Ms. Zheng’s passport and didn’t allow her to go abroad to pursue advanced education.
Ms. Zheng was arrested on September 8, 2017 for sharing information about Falun Gong on social media.
She was held at a local brainwashing center, where the 610 Office agents attempted to pressure her into renouncing her faith, before she was released on bail on October 9, 2017.
The police later submitted her case to Zhenhai District Procuratorate.
The 610 Office attempted to send her to a brainwashing center again in October 2018. She was forced to live away from home, but was arrested five months later.
Ms. Zheng’s mother, Ms. Yu Zhiying, who also practices Falun Gong, is currently serving a five-year term at Zhejiang Province Women’s Prison for her faith.
Her father, the president of a local bank, also faces constant harassment and intimidation from the authorities.
