79-Year-Old Liaoning Woman Secretly Sentenced to Three Years for Telling People about Falun Gong

(Minghui.org) The family of 79-year-old Ms. Sun Xiuzhen, who lives in Yingkou City, Liaoning Province, recently learned that she was admitted to the Liaoning Province Women’s Prison to serve a three-year term for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Ms. Sun was arrested on July 6, 2020, for talking to people about Falun Gong at a community fair in Shuangtaizi Town, Gaizhou City (which is under the administration of Yingkou City). The arresting officers from the Shuangtaizi Police Station took her to the Gaizhou City Lockup that afternoon. Agents of the Gaizhou City Domestic Security Office raided her home and confiscated some Falun Gong magazines.

Ms. Sun was released on bail after seven days of detention. The police later submitted her case to the Bayuquan District Procuratorate in Yingkou City.

The Bayuquan District Court summoned Ms. Sun on November 29, 2021, and informed her that she was scheduled to appear in the Zhanqian District Court in Yingkou City on December 14. To avoid being prosecuted, Ms. Sun left home and stayed in a rental place. Two years later she was arrested on the afternoon of August 20, 2023. The police did not inform her family of her arrest and they had to ask around to find out where she was.

Ms. Sun’s family confirmed in mid-February 2024 that she was sentenced to three years and was transferred from the Yingkou City Detention Center to the Liaoning Province Women’s Prison. But details about her sentencing and prison transfer aren’t clear.

Before taking up Falun Gong in 1997 at the age of 52, Ms. Sun suffered from a variety of diseases, including cholecystitis, hepatitis, rheumatoid arthritis, and throat cancer. Her family spent a fortune on her medical treatment, but her conditions did not improve. Shortly after she began to practice Falun Gong, she fully recovered and no longer needed medical treatment.

In the early years of the persecution, Ms. Sun went to Beijing in February 2001 to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong. She was arrested and taken back to Yingkou. She continued to raise awareness about the persecution throughout the next two decades, only to be arrested again and secretly sentenced to three years in 2023.

Perpetrators’ List:

Lin Jiyan (林纪岩), head of Gaizhou City Domestic Security Office: [phone]Liu Yanming (刘艳明)Yang Jun (杨俊), prosecutor of Zhanqian District ProcuratorateWang Yang (王洋), prosecutor’s assistantGao Chang’an (高长安), president of Zhanqian District Procuratorate: [phone]