Two Women in Their 80s Face Prison Time for Talking to People about Their Faith

(Minghui.org) Two women in Shuangyashan City, Heilongjiang Province, are facing prison time for their faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Ms. Yang Wenshu, 83, and Ms. Liu Guiqing, 80, were reported by the parents of a student for talking to the student about Falun Gong on October 14, 2020. The police located the two practitioners via surveillance cameras and followed them for the next two days.

On October 16, Ms. Yang and Ms. Liu were arrested as they were distributing informational materials about Falun Gong in a residential area. The police ransacked their homes and confiscated their Falun Gong books, photos of Falun Gong’s founder, computers, printers, copy paper, and banknotes with information about Falun Gong printed on them. Due to strict information censorship in China, many practitioners use creative ways to raise awareness about the persecution, including printing short messages on banknotes.

Both women were released at 9 p.m. They were forced to wear GPS tracking bracelets and prohibited from leaving a police-designated area. The police also arranged for officers to stay outside of their apartments to monitor them. As the two women were neighbors, they were accused of having a gathering every time they visited each other.

The police, who then submitted their case to the procuratorate, also harassed the practitioners several times, asked them questions, and took their photos. One officer told Ms. Yang that the 1,000 yuan in banknotes confiscated from her could be enough evidence to sentence her to up to six months.

After Ms. Liu was released, she started to have difficulty walking.

The prosecutor is now in the process of indicting Ms. Liu and Ms. Yang.

Perpetrators’ contact information:
Wu Jiahui (吴家辉), deputy head of Domestic Security Office: [phone]Ma Hui (马会), officer, Youyi County Police Department: [phone]