(Minghui.org) Ms. Zhao Qingxiang’s family learned in mid-November 2022 that she had been sentenced to three years and three months for her faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Zhao, a 39-year-old Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province resident, took up Falun Gong in June 2013. She credits the practice for boosting her energy and turning her into a better and more considerate person.
While distributing informational materials about Falun Gong on November 3, 2021, Ms. Zhao was reported and arrested. Over ten plainclothes officers raided her place. Her over 100 Falun Gong books, informational booklets, cell phone, laptop, and other materials were confiscated. The raid lasted from early afternoon into the evening. The police didn’t leave until 9 p.m.
Ms. Zhao’s family was rejected by the police when they demanded a list of confiscated items. The detention notice the police gave them had the wrong date and didn’t directly mention Falun Gong. Instead, the police accused Ms. Zhao of spreading information about an evil cult.
After the home raid, Ms. Zhao was interrogated at the Sujin Police Station overnight. The police held her there for two days, before taking her to a COVID quarantine facility, where she was held for two weeks before being taken to the Huangdai No. 4 Detention Center.
Because Ms. Zhao refused to renounce Falun Gong, the detention center guards restrained her in a metal chair, deprived her of sleep, and barred her from eating and drinking.
During her over one year of detention, her lawyer was allowed to see her four times, all through video meetings. The meetings were closely monitored by the guards.
The police later submitted Ms. Zhao’s case to the Wujiang District Procuratorate, which then indicted her and moved her case to the Wujiang District Court.
Ms. Zhao appeared in court in early July 2022. The judge informed her lawyer in mid-November of her verdict. Now Ms. Zhao has been transferred to a different detention location, but the authorities have kept her family in the dark of her whereabouts.
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