(Minghui.org) It’s recently confirmed by Minghui.org that a 72-year-old Qinhuangdao City, Shandong Province resident was sentenced to three years and four months for her faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Ms. Yang Shuxian was arrested in June 2022 after being reported for talking to people about Falun Gong at a community fair. As she was found to have a lung condition, the police released her on bail for a year.

Ms. Yang was tried by the Funing District Court on December 8, 2022. The judge sentenced her to prison at the end of the hearing and fined her an undisclosed amount. She is set to report to prison shortly after the Chinese New Year (January 22).

Past Persecution

Ms. Yang used to suffer from frequent dizziness and joint pain when she was young. She regained her health shortly after taking up Falun Gong in 1998. She was full of energy and gained a more positive outlook on life.

After the persecution began in 1999, Ms. Yang and a few other practitioners planned to go to Beijing to appeal in November 2000. Before the bus left, they were arrested by plainclothes officers and taken to the Yuguan Town Police Station. The police hung them up and exposed them to the cold at night.

The practitioners were transferred to the Funing Lockup on the next day. After 15 days of detention, Ms. Yang was transferred to the Funing County Brainwashing Center. During her five months there, she was subjected to constant beating and verbal abuse. The authorities extorted 3,000 yuan from her when releasing her.

Torture illustration: hung up

Ms. Yang went to Beijing again in October 2002 to appeal for Falun Gong, only to be arrested half way there. She was held at the Funing Lockup for three months, followed by another three months at the brainwashing center. The authorities extorted another 2,000 yuan from her.

For urging agents of the Funing County 610 Office not to participate in the persecution, Ms. Yang was arrested on March 10, 2004. After one month of detention, she was given a year at the Tangshan Forced Labor Camp. She was subjected to constant brainwashing and ordered to write statements to renounce Falun Gong. The guards also collected her blood sample from time to time without providing any explanation for it.

The police continued to harass Ms. Yang after she was released. She was forced to move back to her hometown in Sichuan Province in 2008 to hide from the police. Shortly after she moved back to Hebei Province in July 2014, the police began to harass her again.

Ms. Yang wrote a letter to the chief of the Yuguan Town Police Station in early June 2021, urging him not to harass her anymore. Yet the police arrested her and held her in the Qinhuangdao City Lockup for ten days.

Several officials of the Yuguan Township government harassed Ms. Yang at home in early November 2021 and ordered her to write a statement to renounce Falun Gong. As she refused to comply, the officials came back two weeks later and ordered the police to confiscate her Falun Gong books, media player and other materials. They threatened to come back again before they left.

Perpetrators’ information:

Ji Qiang (姬强), officer of Yuguan Town Police StationLin Shuangquan (林双全), judge of Funing District Court