Chongqing Woman Twice Imprisoned for Her Faith, Totaling 11 Years

(Minghui.org) A Chongqing Woman was twice imprisoned for a total of 11 years for her faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999. When Mr. Yang Longmei was released from her second prison term, she suffered memory loss and a mental disorder. She was also emaciated, with a crooked back and wobbly walk.

Mr. Yang, 74, is a retiree of Xingxin Factory in Qijiang District, Chongqing. Because she persevered in practicing Falun Gong, she was sentenced to eight years in prison after her first arrest in December 2001, and three years in 2017.

Her pension was stopped during her incarceration. After multiple appeals, she is now given a thousand yuan every month, barely enough for her to get by. She is still constantly harassed and monitored by her local residential committee.

Two Arrests and Three Years of Imprisonment

Ms. Yang was reported to the authorities when she was telling people about the persecution of Falun Gong in a Ganshui Town department store in March 2017. Officers from the Ganshui Police Station came and arrested her. She was interrogated at the police station. The police then broke into her home and ransacked it. They confiscated her Falun Gong books, cell phone, and other personal belongings.

She was later taken to the Jiangjin Detention Center. After 15 days of detention, she had high blood pressure and was sent to a prison hospital in the nearby Tongzi County, Guizhou Province. After being held at the hospital for six months without explanation, she went on a hunger strike in protest. A few days later, she was released.

Ms. Yang went to the Qijiang District Police Department to request the return of her confiscated belongings. The police told her that they would send her belongings to her home, only to arrest her a few days later when she was strolling after dinner.

Ms. Yang was taken to Jiangjin Detention Center again and sentenced 15 days later, to three years in Zouma Women’s Prison in Chongqing.

Since Ms. Yang refused to renounce her belief, she was tortured and forced to attend daily brainwashing sessions. She was often deprived of sleep and denied use of the restroom. She was not given adequate bedding during the winter. Her son was forced to disown her. Her health deteriorated so badly at one point that she could not get up by herself.

By the time of her release, she was suffering memory loss and a mental disorder. She was emaciated with a crooked back and wobbly walk. Her height shrank from 5 feet 3 inches to 5 feet.

She now receives a monthly living allowance of only 1,000 yuan after her pension was suspended.

Prison and Brainwashing Detentions

Ms. Yang was first arrested at home in December 2001. After three months of detention at Qijiang County Detention Center, the police forced her and two other practitioners to parade with the criminals in February 2002 to humiliate her.

Ms. Yang was later sentenced to eight years in Chongqing Yongchuan Women’s Prison, where she was forced to do heavy labor. Even when she had high blood pressure, she was still forced to carry bags of beads weighing more than 100 pounds.

She was released on May 5, 2009. She did not receive any of her pension during her imprisonment and was not compensated afterward.

Ms. Yang was given one year of forced labor for persistence in her faith in January 2011. She was later released on parole due to a medical condition.

She was forcibly taken to a brainwashing center on August 8, 2011, and she was threatened with a forced labor term.

Over a dozen of plainclothes police officers arrested Ms. Yang at home on July 13, 2012. She was again taken to a brainwashing center in the Yubei District om Chongqing and held for two months.