(Minghui.org) A Xichang City, Sichuan Province resident was held in solitary confinement while serving time for her faith in Falun Gong. Ms. Yu Hongying faces continued harassment after her release.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Yu took up Falun Gong in 1997 and credits the practice for curing her severe depression. For distributing informational materials about Falun Gong, she was arrested on July 19, 2019, after being recorded by surveillance camera.
The police later combined her case with five other practitioners and one practitioner’s husband, who does not practice Falun Gong. The six other locals were arrested between July 15 and August 13, 2019.
The combined case was submitted to the Xichang City Procuratorate.
The Xichang City Court gave the seven people prison terms ranging from six months to five years. Ms. Yu was given 18 months and fined 6,000 yuan.
While serving time at the Xiaomiaoxiang Detention Center, the guards didn’t allow Ms. Yu to do the Falun Gong exercises and ordered the inmates to monitor her, incentivizing them with term rductions.
Whenever Ms. Yu did the exercises, the inmates would beat her hands and feet. The guards also verbally abused her in the loudspeaker. She was handcuffed and shackled for 21 days, with 14 days in solitary confinement. She was also tied up to a utility pole and exposed to strong sunlight for three hours.
After she was released on January 18, 2021, the authorities continued to harass her.
Around 9 p.m. on August 10, 2021, a few staff members of the residential committee and property management knocked on her door and requested to go inside. She didn’t let them.
The residential committee staff members found her again on August 25 and asked her to sign a prepared statement. They claimed that if she signed the document, they would clear all of her past records of practicing Falun Gong. Ms. Yu refused to comply.
Four days later, on August 29, the authorities harassed Ms. Yu one more time and demanded to take her photos. She didn’t comply either.
Related reports:
Seven Sichuan Residents Sentenced to Prison, Families in Distress
All articles, graphics, and content published on Minghui.org are copyrighted. Non-commercial reproduction is allowed but requires attribution with the article title and a link to the original article.
