Chongqing Woman Given 1.5 Years for Talking to People about Falun Gong

(Minghui.org) A 61-year-old Chongqing resident was recently sentenced to 1.5 years for her faith in Falun Gong.

Ms. Liu Renxiu was arrested on February 22, 2022. The police claimed that she was reported by a shop owner for talking to him last August about Falun Gong. She was held at the Jieshi Detention Center.

The police later submitted Ms. Liu’s case to the Jiulongpo District Procuratorate. She appeared in the Jiulongpo District Court on February 14, 2023. Her lawyer entered a not-guilty plea for her. She also testified in her own defense. The judge later sentenced her to 1.5 years. She is scheduled to be released in August 2023.

Ms. Liu took up Falun Gong in July 1996. She credits the practice for changing her bad temper and improving her health. Because she refused to renounce Falun Gong after the Chinese communist regime ordered the persecution in 1999, she was arrested in August 2000 and taken to a brainwashing center. She held a hunger strike to protest the persecution and was given one year at the Maojiashan Forced Labor Camp.

Ms. Liu was arrested again in May 2003 and sentenced to four years. At the Yongchuan Women’s Prison, she was tortured and forced to work long hours without pay.

Ms. Liu noticed that she was followed when she went out on April 24, 2020. The same thing happened every time she stepped out of the door for the next few days. When she went out grocery shopping on April 28, she asked the people who were following her who gave the order to monitor her. Those people remained silent. When she went out again the next afternoon, she saw a worker installing a surveillance camera several yards away, facing her front door. The worker said it was an order from the property management. When she pointed out it was illegal for them to do so, the worker said the camera was for the hallway.