(Minghui.org) It was recently learned that a 57-year-old woman in Hunan Province had been sentenced to one and a half years for her faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.

Ms. Xiao Deyu (also known as Xiao Deying), a native of Yiyang City, Hunan Province, did odd jobs in neighboring Changsha City (the provincial capital) in recent years. She was arrested in her rental apartment in Changsha at around 1:00 a.m. on October 17, 2022. The arresting officers from the Criminal Investigation Team of the Kaifu District Police Department in Changsha came in three cruisers and raided her residence.

The police took Ms. Xiao to a hospital for a COVID-19 test and physical examination. She was unable to give a urine sample or walk normally. The officers had to carry her around for various tests. They accused her of faking illness and refused to render any medical aid. It is unclear whether Ms. Xiao’s condition existed before her latest arrest.

After the hospital visit, the police took Ms. Xiao to the Changsha No. 4 Detention Center, where she remains. According to insiders, deputy chief Xu Jun of the Xinhe Police Station reported her, and the Wujialing Police Station orchestrated the arrest. Both police stations are overseen by the Kaifu District Police Department, which dispatched criminal investigation team agents to arrest Ms. Xiao.

Ms. Xiao’s case was later assigned to Liuyang City for prosecution. Liuyang City is under the administration of Changsha City.

The Liuyang City Police Department submitted Ms. Xiao’s case to the Liuyang City Procuratorate, which proceeded to indict her. The Liuyang City Court initially scheduled a hearing for April 27, 2023, but postponed it to June. She was sentenced either during the June hearing or shortly afterwards.

This is not the first time that Ms. Xiao has been targeted for her faith, which she credits for saving her from dying from multiple organ failures. In March 2008, she went to the neighboring Xiangyin County to talk to people about Falun Gong and was shadowed by a local village secretary. He snatched her purse and beat her savagely, before taking her to the Lingbei Police Station in Xiangyin County. Chief Liu Ceyu later transferred her to the Xiangyin County Detention Center.

During her detention, Ms. Xiao felt tightness in her chest, had difficulty breathing, experienced numbness in her body and developed constipation. She almost passed out on several occasions. Despite her condition, she was later given one year of forced labor and admitted to the Baimalong Forced Labor Camp in Zhuzhou City, where she was subjected to brainwashing, forced labor, and corporal punishment.

Ms. Xiao filed a criminal complaint against former dictator Jiang Zemin in 2015 for ordering the persecution of Falun Gong. The Heshan District Police Department in her hometown of Yiyang City arrested her and kept her in a brainwashing center for one month. Officer Xiong Jianguang orchestrated her arrest.

Due to the relentless brainwashing and abuse she suffered in the brainwashing center, Ms. Xiao had a relapse of her heart failure and kidney failure, which had been cured through Falun Gong practice decades ago. She almost died, but gradually recovered after she was able to do Falun Gong exercises again upon returning home.

At around 3:00 p.m. on September 10, 2019, Ms. Xiao was talking to someone about Falun Gong in a residential area in Changsha, when a college junior student spotted her and reported her to police. Two officers from the Jiucaiyuan Police Station, including Li Bisheng, came and arrested her. She was held in a local lockup for 15 days, during which time she was abused to the point of becoming very weak and having trouble straightening her back.