(Minghui.org) A Liaoyang City, Liaoning Province, woman was sentenced to 2.5 years in December 2020 for her faith in Falun Gong. This is the third time that Ms. Wang Suzhen has been sentenced for her faith, following two previous terms totaling 9.5 years.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Wang, 59, was arrested on July 22, 2019, while she was studying Falun Gong’s teachings with six other practitioners. Although the others were released, she was held in Liaoyang City Detention Center for a year and a half before being sentenced to two and half years in Liaoning Province Women’s Prison.
Ms. Wang began to practice Falun Gong in 2004. She credits the practice for improving her health and elevating her mind. But she refuses to give up her faith, she has spent over 10 years behind bars over the past 17 years.
First 5-year Prison Term
Ms. Wang was first arrested on July 11, 2007, after being reported for distributing Falun Gong informational materials with another practitioner, Ms. Zhang Hong. The police grabbed Ms. Wang by her hair and pushed her into the car.
Both women were taken to the Shizuizi Detention Center that evening and to a brainwashing center the next day. The Taizihe District Court later sentenced Ms. Wang to five years in prison and Ms. Zhang to three years.
After Ms. Wang was taken to Liaoning Province Women’s Prison in January 2008, guard Jiao Lingling hit her on the head with a stick and shocked her with an electric baton. The next evening, the guards tied her up in the laundry room and poured water into her ear. She suffered severe tinnitus afterward.
Ms. Wang was forced to watch videos that slandered Falun Gong. When the guards ordered her to write thought reports, she wrote, “Falun Dafa is good. No one can deny this. Heaven determines what’s good and what’s bad.”
In the Eighth Ward, Ms. Wang was regularly denied use of the restroom. Once when she asked to use the restroom, inmate Zhang Haibo, who was assigned to monitor her, hit her in the face and made her front teeth fall out.
At night, the inmates took turns watching Ms. Wang and didn’t let her sleep. Guard Li Wenbo often slapped Ms. Wang in the face. On one occasion, Li stomped on Ms. Wang’s thigh and made a large bruise when another inmate did something wrong.
Ms. Wang developed severe anemia as a result of the abuse. Her face was pale and she was often dizzy. She also had painful stomachaches. The prison hospital infused her with a unit of blood in July 2011.
She was released on July 10, 2012.
Second 4.5-year Prison Term
Ms. Wang was arrested again on February 7, 2014, after being reported for distributing Falun Gong materials. She was held in the Liaoyang City Detention Center and later sentenced to 4.5 years by the Liaoyang County Court.
Due to her extremely high blood pressure, Liaoning Province Women’s Prison twice refused to admit her before the police’s third attempt on March 12, 2015.
Ms. Wang suffered a stroke in July 2016 due to the abuse and was resuscitated. When her family visited her in the hospital, she was handcuffed and four guards were watching her. The guards told her family they would have to pay her medical costs. They threatened to stop treatment if they refused to pay.
Ms. Wang was released in 2018, only to be arrested again a year later.
Two Falun Gong Practitioners from Liaoyang Sentenced to Prison