(Minghui.org) It was recently learned that a resident of Cangzhou City, Hebei Province served two years in Beijing for her faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Ms. Wang Zhihua stayed with her daughter’s family in Beijing in 2021 temporarily to help care for her granddaughter. She distributed Falun Gong informational materials in her spare time and someone reported seeing the materials. The Wenquan Town Police Station in Haidian District, Beijing, poured over surveillance cameras and tracked Ms. Wang down to her daughter’s home. They arrested her on March 7, 2021, and confiscated her Falun Gong books and informational materials, as well as her cell phone.
The Haidian District Court sentenced Ms. Wang to two years with a 3,000-yuan fine on December 29, 2021. The verdict bore the signatures of prosecutor Zhao Yi, presiding judge Wang Chong, and judges Wang Qunli and Min Zengyun. The details of her indictment and trial remain to be investigated.
Ms. Wang filed an appeal but the Beijing First Intermediate Court ruled against her on March 31, 2022. Presiding judges Zhou Weiping and Xiang Yang, judge Hu Hai, their assistant Wang Zeheng, and clerk Zhang Yang signed the ruling.
Ms. Wang was admitted to the Tianhe Prison in Beijing on July 12, 2022, and finished serving time in March 2023.
Prior to her latest imprisonment, Ms. Wang was previously arrested twice, in 2000 and 2015, respectively. She was also barred from traveling abroad.
Ms. Wang unfurled a banner on Tiananmen Square on December 31, 2000, to appeal for her right to practice Falun Gong. She was arrested by the police in Beijing and taken to an unknown location. She refused to reveal her name and an officer punched her hard in the eye. She was then taken to a police department and ordered to have her picture taken. She covered her head with her winter coat and squatted on the ground in protest. The police yanked her up, grabbed her hair and forcibly took her picture.
Despite the abuse, Ms. Wang remained mum on her identity and was later transferred to the Zhangbei County Detention Center in Hebei Province. An associate director surnamed Si verbally abused her. She went on a hunger strike in protest and was force-fed. Several people pressed her down and force-fed her some unknown substance. After that, she began having loose stools with a red tint (not sure if it was blood). She suspected that the guards had added toxic drugs to the food force-fed to her. She was released 18 days later and fined 2,000 yuan.
In 2013, Ms. Wang was invited to visit her daughter, who lived in the U.S. at the time and was expecting a new baby. The authorities, however, refused to process her passport application on the grounds that she practiced Falun Gong.
Ms. Wang was arrested again on the night of May 12, 2015, after being reported for distributing Falun Gong informational materials. During the interrogation at the Yunhe District Police Department, captain Tang Gouli kicked her in the stomach when she urged him not to persecute Falun Gong practitioners like her. She went airborne and hit the wall with her hips.
The police gave Ms. Wang ten days of detention at a local lockup. She refused to wear the inmate’s uniform and was tied up by other inmates, who also stuffed a dirty rag into her mouth. The guards saw all these but turned a blind eye. She was released on the tenth day and fined 10,000 yuan.
When her daughter helped her bathe after her release, the younger woman noted a large area bruised area on her buttocks. Ms. Wang realized that it must be a result of her hips hitting the wall after being kicked by captain Tang. The pain persisted for a long time before subsiding.
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