(Minghui.org) A 71-year-old woman serving time for her faith in Falun Gong developed cancer in custody and was recently released on medical parole.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is an ancient spiritual and meditation discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since 1999.
Ms. Yu Shourong of Fushun City, Liaoning Province, was arrested on June 25, 2019, after being reported for talking to people about Falun Gong. The police took her keys and ransacked her home without her being present. The officers pried open her wood floor to look for Falun Gong items. Over 1,000 yuan in cash was taken away.
Ms. Yu appeared in the Wanghua District Court on December 27, 2019, and later sentenced to three years with a 10,000-yuan fine.
She began to feel unwell in recent months. After she was released on medical parole on December 13, 2020, she went to a hospital and was diagnosed with cancer on December 15. She had an operation on December 22 and is now recovering at home.
Prior to her latest sentencing, Ms. Yu was targeted several times for her faith. She was arrested in January 2001 and held in a brainwashing center and then a forced labor camp for more than a year. It was reported that the 610 Office, an extralegal agency created to persecute Falun Gong, issued Falun Gong practitioner-arrest quotas for local residential committees and the police station.
Ms. Yu was arrested again in March 2003 and given three years in Masanjia Forced Labor Camp. Because she refused to renounce her faith at the end of her term, the authorities extended her incarceration for a month and then transferred her to a brainwashing center.
Ms. Yu was arrested one more time, on July 7, 2014. The police ransacked her home and held her at the Nangou Detention Center. She was later sentenced to four years by the Dongzhou District Court and released on July 6, 2018.
The persecution of Ms. Yu also implicated her family. Her husband passed away during her second labor camp term due to fear and stress. Their child was forced to drop out of school and deprived of parental care.
