(Minghui.org) Two Suining City, Sichuan Province residents, were recently sentenced to prison for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Yuan Qiongxiu, 72 and a former employee of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, was arrested outside a farmers’ market on April 28, 2024. The police held her hands behind her back, fastened her wrists together, photographed her and shoved her into a black car which no license plate. Her home was ransacked shortly afterwards.
The police did not tell Ms. Yuan’s family where she was. It took them over two months to find out that she was detained at the Yongxing Town Detention Center.
The other practitioner, Ms. Qin Zhengfang, 66, was arrested on the same day while walking on the street. The police snatched the key yo her home, raided it and confiscated her Falun Gong books. She was also held at the Yongxing Town Detention Center.
Both women were later transferred to the Suining City Detention Center and indicted by the Chuanshan District Procuratorate. The Chuanshan District Court recently convicted them, giving Ms. Yuan four years and Ms. Qin three years and six months. Ms. Yuan was sent to the Sichuan Province Women’s Prison in the capital city of Chengdu at the time of this report. Ms. Qin’s situation isn’t clear.
Before they began practicing Falun Gong in 1995 and 1998, respectively, both Ms. Yuan and Ms. Qin suffered from many ailments. They both credit Falun Gong for improving their health and showing them how to be better people who strive to live by the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance.
After the Chinese Communist Party ordered the persecution in 1999, Ms. Yuan and Ms. Qin were arrested multiple times. The authorities also withheld 128,000 yuan from Ms. Yuan’s pension account, causing her tremendous financial hardship.
Ms. Yuan and Ms. Qin were arrested together on September 4, 2002, when they were reported for putting up Falun Gong posters. Ms. Qin was hung up by the wrists, with her feet off the ground, for an entire morning. Her hands were severely injured and didn’t recover until three months later. The police also grabbed both women’s hair and beat them with spiked rubber sticks. They were taken to the Chengbei Lockup that evening and transferred to the Lingquansi Detention Center three days later. Ms. Yuan was later sentenced to two years and released on medical parole after 115 days in detention. Ms. Qin was detained for seven months. They were each extorted for more than 10,000 yuan by the police.
Ms. Qin was arrested again on May 31, 2009, together with her husband, Mr. Li Yongcheng. They were taken to a brainwashing center. Mr. Li was released after 47 days and Ms. Qin was given a three-year term at the Sichuan Province Women’s Prison, where she was tortured and forced to work without pay.
Following another arrest on June 6, 2018, Ms. Yuan was sentenced to two and a half years on April 10, 2019. She served time at the same Sichuan Province Women’s Prison where she is serving her third prison sentence.
Related Reports:
Having Served Two Prison Terms, 72-Year-Old Woman Arrested for Her Faith Again
Sichuan Woman Sentenced to Prison for Her Faith
Ms. Qin Zhengfang from Suining City, Sichuan Province Sentenced to Three Years of Imprisonment
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