(Minghui.org) A resident of Ji'an City, Jilin Province was arrested on June 13, 2019, for suing Jiang Zemin, the former head of the Chinese communist regime who ordered the persecution of her faith, Falun Gong, in 1999. Ms. Zhan Qingrong's home was ransacked. She was released on bail due to high blood pressure.
The Liuhe County Court sentenced the 71-year-old to three years in prison on December 28, 2019. Due to her health condition, she was allowed to serve her sentence outside the prison.
Previous Arrests and Detention
Ms. Zhan started practicing Falun Gong in 1999 and regained her health within three months. However, she was repeatedly harassed and had her home ransacked after the persecution of Falun Gong started; her children were also implicated.
In 2001, Ms. Zhan's husband started practicing Falun Gong after contracting a terminal illness. He was recovering well within three months. However, his illness worsened when he was traumatized by Ms. Zhan's arrest on January 20, 2002. His illness later recurred due to repeated harassment and threats by police, and he passed away after nine months.
Ms. Zhan was arrested again on January 10, 2003, and taken to Ji'an City Detention Center the next day to be detained for 11 days. She was later released on bail.
Ms. Zhan was telling people about Falun Gong on March 4, 2010 when she was reported to the police and arrested. She was released after paying 1,000 yuan.
In April 2010, her son sent her to her hometown in Shandong Province to avoid arrest. When the police couldn't find her, they arrested her son and daughter. Her children were detained for three days, fined, and threatened with termination from their jobs.
Her son was then taken to Yantai City, Shandong Province to look for her. As soon as Ms. Zhan returned with her son, she was arrested. She was later sentenced to three years by Ji'an City Court in September that year and imprisoned in Changchun Women's Prison.
Ms. Zhan was tortured physically and mentally while in prison. She was deprived of sleep with her hands cuffed and her feet shackled. She was forced to sit on a small stool from morning until midnight, resulting in her buttocks’ skin cracking. She developed high blood pressure due to the abuse, and her old illness recurred; her legs became swollen, making it hard for her to walk.
Guards instigated inmates to hit Ms. Zhan and force her to watch materials that slandered Falun Gong. If she refused to be “transformed” into denouncing her faith, she would be beaten. Ms. Zhan was also made to clean the place, wipe the windows, and scrape the ice during winter, leaving her hands frostbitten; four of her fingers on her left hand often bled, and she recovered only after returning home.
Ms. Zhan's son would cry whenever he visited her. Three days before she was to be released, her son was in a car accident. When her daughter called the prison to allow Ms. Zhan to see her son for the last time, the warden refused.
As Ms. Zhan was imprisoned for three years, her home in the countryside was damaged due to neglect. Her son had no choice but to sell the home. With no home or pension, she is forced to rely on her daughter.
