(Minghui.org) A resident of Fuzhou City, Fujian Province, was sentenced to nine months on June 12, 2024 for her faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
The ordeal of Ms. Zhang Liyu, in her 70s, stemmed from an incident in May 2023, when the security guard at a local apartment building caught her placing Falun Gong informational materials in residents’ mailboxes and reported her to the police. The Cangshan District Police Department put Ms. Zhang on one-year house arrest afterwards.
It is unclear when Ms. Zhang was later indicted or tried. She was taken back into custody and admitted to the Fujian Province Women’s Prison (located in Fuzhou City) shortly after she was sentenced to nine months by the Cangshan District Court on June 12, 2024.
Ms. Zhang was the sole caregiver for her husband, who suffers from stroke complications. After her prison admission, Ms. Zhang’s husband had to check into a nursing home.
This is not the first time that Ms. Zhang has been targeted for her faith. She was previously sentenced to prison three times and ordered to pay back retirement benefits issued to her during her imprisonment.
Sentenced to Four Years in 2000
Ms. Zhang was arrested on October 8, 2000 for distributing Falun Gong informational materials. She was later sentenced to four years and served the full term.
Sentenced to Three Years with Four Years Probation in 2010
Ms. Zhang was arrested on April 5, 2010, while talking to people about Falun Gong. The arresting officers from the Baiyun Village Police Station held her at the Yongtai County Lockup for a while before transferring her to the Yongtai County Detention Center.
After she was issued a formal arrest warrant on April 21, 2010, Ms. Zhang hired a Beijing lawyer to represent her. The Yongtai County Court, however, forced her to fire the lawyer.
Her husband received a call from the court on September 16 that year, asking him to report to them at 8 a.m. the next day to “discuss something.” He went to the court as instructed on September 17, 2010 and saw numerous bailiffs and police officers. They confiscated his cell phone and told him that his wife’s trial was to start moments later. More than twenty strangers sat in the gallery, with one of them sitting right next to him to monitor him.
After the trial began, a woman of unknown identity videotaped the court proceedings. Ms. Zhang condemned the woman for the unlawful behavior and asked that she be removed from the courtroom. The judge initially ignored Ms. Zhang’s protest but later relented and ordered that woman out.
Without a lawyer, Ms. Zhang testified in her own defense and demanded an acquittal. The judge later sentenced her to three years with four years probation.
Sentenced to Eight Months in 2016
Ms. Zhang and another practitioner, Ms. Jiang Yanmei, were arrested on June 10, 2016, while they were talking to people about Falun Gong at a local park. They were taken to the Shangdu Police Station and moved to the Fuzhou City Lockup the next day. They were transferred to the Fuzhou City Second Detention Center two weeks later and issued formal arrest warrants on August 3, 2016.
Their cases were submitted to the Cangshan District Procuratorate on October 8, and the Cangshan District Court tried them on December 9, 2016, without notifying their families. Both Ms. Zhang and Ms. Jiang were sentenced to eight months. They were released on February 10, 2017.
Financial Persecution by Way of Pension Reduction
Ms. Zhang received a phone call from the Fuzhou City Social Security Bureau in March 2022, ordering her to return the pension benefits issued to her during her three prior prison terms. She visited the bureau soon afterwards and was told that the exact amount she must return was 126,566.49 yuan. The staffer however did not explain how they came up with that figure.
The staffer also added that Ms. Zhang’s future monthly pension would be reduced from 2,883.06 yuan to 1,741.18 yuan to account for the cost-of-living adjustments she was initially deemed eligible for but was now stripped of as a result of her imprisonment. By law, however, all retirees are entitled to the annual cost-of-living adjustments, regardless of whether they were ever jailed, and for whatever reason.
Ms. Zhang was warned that her benefits would be suspended if she failed to pay back the 125,566.49 yuan “overpayment.”
Ms. Zhang later filed an appeal with the Social Security Bureau, which then retroactively issued a notice to say that retirees who failed to return pension overpayment or committed fraud would face consequences, including being listed as uncreditworthy people.
Ms. Zhang went to the Social Security Bureau and its supervising agencies many more times but was always given the runaround. She then received a lawyer’s notice on behalf of the Social Security Bureau, accusing her of violating relevant laws and the above-mentioned notice.
Ms. Zhang couldn’t believe that she was portrayed as an offender when the Social Security Bureau broke the law in the first place by seeking to take back her lawfully earned pension benefits. She filed a lawsuit against them, and the Jin’an District Court scheduled a hearing for August 3, 2023. The case may still be pending and it is unclear whether Ms. Zhang was given her latest prison sentence as retaliation for her lawsuit against the Social Security Bureau.
Related Article in Chinese:
Related Reports:
Court Hearings Delayed to Prevent Beijing Defense Lawyers from AttendingFuzhou Court Prevents Ms. Zhang's Family from Hiring a Lawyer from Beijing
The Fuzhou City 610 Office's Persecution of Falun Gong Practitioners During the Past Two Years
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