(Minghui.org) Having served three forced labor terms totaling nearly eight years for practicing Falun Gong, a 49-year-old woman in Zhuzhou City, Hunan Province, was sentenced to three years in prison on September 8, 2023, for upholding her faith.
Falun Gong is a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Ms. Yu Yingzhu, who used to work at the Zhuzhou City Smelter Plant, was arrested at home on March 29, 2023, and taken to Changsha (the provincial capital), about 50 miles away, overnight. She was admitted to the Changsha City No.4 Detention Center the next afternoon.
The police claimed that they suspected Ms. Yu of participating in an activity organized by local Falun Gong practitioners over ten years ago. She said she didn’t know anything about the activity or the practitioners the police mentioned. She asked if the police were making things up to frame her. To protest, she started a hunger strike one month into her arrest and was taken to the hospital several times for force-feeding.
Ms. Zhu became extremely weak and emaciated after two months on a hunger strike and was released under house arrest on June 1, 2023.
The Yuhua District Court in Changsha City ordered the police to take her back into custody on August 24. She has since been held at the Changsha City No.4 Detention Center.
Ms. Zhu appeared in court on September 8 and was sentenced to three years in prison by judge Yang Yong. The day before the hearing, many of Ms. Zhu’s relatives, friends, and fellow Falun Gong practitioners were harassed by the police and community officials, who warned them not to attend her trial. Those who did manage to go to the courthouse were driven away by the police using various excuses.
For information on Ms. Zhu’s past persecution, see the related report below.
Related Report:
Hunan Woman on Hunger Strike for a Month and Counting Following Latest Arbitrary Arrest
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