(Minghui.org) A 78-year-old woman was sentenced to 3.5 years for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual and meditation discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since 1999.
Ms. Li Shumei of Huichun City, Jilin Province, was arrested on July 24, 2019, after the police saw her distributing informational materials about Falun Gong. Although she was released later that day, she was taken back into custody on July 26 and held in Yanji Detention Center. Her family wasn’t allowed to visit her.
The Longjing Court held a hearing on August 13, 2019. The prosecutor recommended that she serve two years in prison with two years' probation.
The judge didn’t inform Ms. Li’s family of her second hearing. They only found out that she has been sentenced to 3.5 years when they went to the court to inquire about her case.
Ms. Li is still detained in Yanji Detention Center at the time of writing.
This isn’t the first time that she has been persecuted for her faith. She was given one year of forced labor for appealing for the right to practice Falun Gong in Beijing in 1999. When the authorities continued to harass her after she was released, she was forced to live away from home in late February 2003.
Ms. Li was arrested again in 2011 and sentenced to 4.5 years in Changchun Women’s Prison. She was released in January 2016.
