Displaced Woman in Her 70s Arrested and Sentenced to Five Years for Her Faith

(Minghui.org) A 73-year-old woman was arrested a year after she was forced to live away from home to avoid the persecution of her faith in Falun Gong. Ms. Liu Hui was later sentenced to five years in prison. She is still being held at the Jixi City Detention Center and hasn’t yet been taken to the Heilongjiang Province Women’s Prison.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Ms. Liu and another practitioner, Ms. Shen Guizhen, both of Mishan City, Heilongjiang Province, were spotted by Li Gang, the head of Mishan City Domestic Security Office, while talking to people about Falun Gong on August 15, 2020. Li ordered their arrests and held them at the local lockup. 

After twelve days, both women were taken to the Jixi Detention Center. As they both were found to have high blood pressure and a heart condition, they were denied admission and released on bail in the evening. After their release, their day to day lives were monitored by the police, and they were forbidden to contact other local practitioners. They were also ordered to write statements renouncing Falun Gong. 

To avoid further persecution, Ms. Liu was forced to live away from home on March 1, 2022. After over a year of displacement, on July 22, 2022, she was arrested at her rental place in Jixi City, Heilongjiang Province, along with her roommate, Ms. Pan Guifen, who also practices Falun Gong. While Ms. Pan was released after 15 days, Ms. Liu was put on criminal detention by the Mishan police and held at the Jixi City Detention Center. Details about her sentencing aren’t clear at the time of writing. 

Past Persecution

This isn’t the first time that Ms. Liu has been targeted for her faith in Falun Gong. She was previously given a five-year prison sentence and a one-year labor camp term. 

Following Ms. Liu’s first two arrests, in October 1999 and May 2000, she was detained for 15 days both times and extorted for 6,000 yuan and 2,000 yuan respectively. 

Ms. Liu was arrested again on April 25, 2002. She was beaten and interrogated by the police, who attempted to force her to admit that she printed informational materials about Falun Gong for distribution. She was later sentenced to five years by the Jiguan District Court and transferred to the Heilongjiang Province Women’s Prison on March 10, 2004.

Ms. Liu’s next arrest was on July 13, 2009. She was given a year of forced labor at the Harbin Drug Rehabilitation Center. Her term was extended for 41 days as she refused to renounce Falun Gong.

Ms. Liu was arrested yet another time on March 13, 2016 for talking to people about Falun Gong. Due to her high blood pressure, she was denied admission by the detention center and released.