(Minghui.org) A woman in Tieling City, Liaoning Province was admitted to prison on March 4, 2021 to serve a four-year term for her faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Liu Yuhua and her husband, Mr. Jin Liguo, were arrested on October 9, 2019, after being reported by six postal workers for mailing letters about Falun Gong to the local judiciary agencies. A dozen armed police officers surrounded the couple’s home and cordoned off their apartment building during the arrests, telling onlookers that the couple were suspected murderers.
Another two practitioners, Ms. Zhang Xuehua and Ms. Zhang Lizhen (no relation), who happened to be visiting the couple during the police raid, were also arrested.
The couple and Ms. Zhang Lizhen were tried by the Changtu County Court on May 19, 2020. Neither the arresting officers nor the postal workers showed up in court for cross examination.
Ms. Zhang Xuehua was later coerced by the police to write a guarantee statement to renounce Falun Gong and was cleared of prosecution.
Ms. Liu has been suffering from high blood pressure and diabetes since her arrest. She wasn’t allowed to go back to the Tieling City Detention Center, where she had been held, after the hearing, but was taken to the Diaobingshan Detention Center for a month-long quarantine.
When her family visited her at the Diaobingshan Detention Center on June 22, 2020, Ms. Liu told them that her blood pressure remained very high and she continued to lose weight. She also suffered numbness in the left side of her body and was unable to move her left leg, which was a result of lacunar infarction caused by the high blood pressure. Severely aggravating her condition, she also had shingles on her buttocks.
On June 29, 2020, the judge sentenced Ms. Liu to four years with a 5,000-yuan fine, Mr. Jin to one year with a 1,000-yuan fine and Ms. Zhang Lizhen to three months with a 1,000-yuan fine. Both Mr. Jin and Ms. Zhang have been released at the time of writing after serving their term.
Ms. Liu was transferred back to the Tieling City Detention Center shortly after receiving the verdict and taken to the Liaoning Province Women’s Prison on March 4, 2021. It’s reported that she is still having persistent high blood pressure even with medication. Due to the lack of medical treatment, the paralysis on the left side of her body worsened and she is having difficulty walking on her own. At the same time, she is having trouble eating and is now very weak.
Liaoning Couple and a Friend Tried for Their Faith, Prosecution's Witnesses Absent from Hearing
Married Couple Sentenced for Mailing Letters about Their Faith; Their Guest Also Sentenced