(Minghui.org) A Zibo City, Shandong Province resident was sentenced to 3.5 years by the Boshan District Court on June 23, 2021 for her faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Ms. Zhang Ruijun appeared through a video conference at her sentencing hearing. Her family said she looked haggard and her reactions were very slow. Walking was even difficult for her. 

Ms. Zhang’s family, who burst into tears upon seeing her, said they couldn’t imagine what torture she had gone through in the past month, after she was taken into custody on May 28.

Ms. Zhang, a retired bookstore employee in her 50s, was first arrested on March 19, 2020, after the police tracked her information from the cellphone of another arrested practitioner. 

While Ms. Zhang was soon released on bail due to her health, the police submitted her case to the procuratorate, which later indicted her. 

The authorities threatened Ms. Zhang with termination of her husband’s job (who works for the government), in an attempt to force her to plead guilty and write a statement to renounce Falun Gong. She refused to comply. 

Ms. Zhang appeared in the Boshan District Court on May 12, 2021. 

Officer Song Wenhao of the Hengtai County Domestic Security Office deceived Ms. Zhang into going to their office on May 28, only to arrest her and take her directly to the Zibo City Detention Center. Her family wasn’t allowed to visit her there. They only saw her in the video at her sentencing hearing in June.

Ms. Zhang’s family has appealed the verdict on her behalf. Her child recently learned that the living conditions in the detention center are very poor and she is unable to sleep well at night. She is also held in an isolation room and not allowed to talk to other people.

Perpetrators’ contact information:
Zhang Xianying (张显营), presiding judge of Boshan District Court: +86-13864471543Zhang Yulong (张玉龙), court clerk: +86-13370695892Zhang Xiaofei (张晓飞), officer of the Hengtai County Domestic Security Office: +86-18553361270Gao Lixia (高丽霞), officer of the Hengtai County Domestic Security Office: +86-18553361387

(More perpetrators’ contact information is available in the original Chinese article.)