(Minghui.org) A Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province resident has been denied visitation and phone calls with her family, as she refused to renounce Falun Gong while serving a four-year term.
Ms. Gu Chao was arrested on August 10, 2021, after being reported for talking to people about Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been targeted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999. She appeared in Yuhua District Court on March 1, 2022, and was sentenced to four years with a 50,000 yuan fine.
When Ms. Gu’s family went to the Changzhou City Women’s Prison (formerly a concrete factory) in July 2022 to visit her, the guards asked for documents to prove their family relationship. But as the family returned with the required document, the guards still rejected their visitation request, with the excuse that Ms. Gu didn’t renounce Falun Gong. She wasn’t allowed to call her family either.
Worried about her, her family kept calling the prison to inquire about her situation, but the guards never revealed any information.
Ms. Gu’s husband Mr. Liu Honghui appealed with Jiangsu Province Prison Administration Bureau. With the bureau’s intervention, the prison allowed Ms. Gu to write a letter home in late December 2022. In the reply, her husband asked her to write letters home regularly, so he knows she is safe and sound. But he never heard back from her since and he is now very worried about her.
Other Practitioners Denied Family Visits Too
Other Falun Gong practitioners incarcerated at Changzhou Women’s Prison were also deprived of their right to family visits.
Ms. Geng Yinfeng, an 85-year-old Jingjiang City resident, was taken to prison in September 2022 to serve a four-year term. The guards barred her husband from visiting her when he traveled to the prison in late 2022.
Ms. Li Zhenghua, a 76-year-old Yangzhou City resident, was secretly taken to prison in February 2020 to serve a three-year term. Her family was also forbidden from meeting her when they went to the prison to deliver clothes to her.
Past Persecution of Ms. Gu
Ms. Gu used to work as a manager at a foreign company. She was fired by the company for talking to people about Falun Gong after taking up the practice in 2013.
Ms. Gu was arrested on November 14, 2014, after being reported for talking to people about Falun Gong. She was held at the Baima Brainwashing Center for a month.
As Ms. Gu persisted in raising awareness about the persecution, the police hired a locksmith and broke into her home on September 18, 2017. Her arrest and detention traumatized her ailing mother and the elderly woman passed away shortly after.
Before Ms. Gu’s arrest, the police frequently harassed her and her family members, sometimes staying outside of their home to monitor them. As the harassment and monitoring continued after she was arrested, her sister developed severe depression due to the mental pressure.
Ms. Gu appeared in the Lishui District Court on July 5, 2018, and was sentenced to one year.
Related report:
Jiangsu Woman Sentenced to Three Years for Talking to People about Falun Gong
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