(Minghui.org) Ms. Zou Xiujun from Sichuan Province was recently sentenced to 3.5 years for talking to people about Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the communist regime since 1999.

According to Ms. Zou's family members who attended the trial on August 28, 2018, in the Jinjiang District Court in Chengdu City, the judge didn't allow her lawyer to defend her and he announced the verdict at the end of the trial.

Ms. Zou was arrested on October 13, 2016, after being reported to the police for talking to people about Falun Gong and how the practice saved her from a disease that almost took her life in 1998.

The police and staff members from the neighborhood committee ransacked her rental residence and confiscated her computer, printers, and other supplies she used to make Falun Gong informational materials at home. She was detained in Chengdu City Detention Center for nearly two years before she was sentenced.

Over the past 19 years, because of her refusal to give up practicing Falun Gong, Ms. Zou has been repeatedly arrested and harassed by the police. She was forced to leave home and moved from place to place to avoid the police. Her family members and neighbors who don't practice Falun Gong were also frequently harassed.