(Minghui.org) A 78-year-old resident of Suining City, Sichuan Province was sentenced to six months in prison on June 21, 2024 for her faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999. It is unclear whether Ms. Zhao Yan, who had been out on bail, was taken back into custody after her wrongful conviction.
This was not the first time Ms. Zhao had been targeted for her faith. She faced constant harassment from local police over the years, and her husband constantly lived in fear. His lung disease kept worsening, and he died in 2023.
Ms. Zhao’s latest prison sentence stemmed from a trip she made to Chengdu (the capital city of Sichuan Province) to visit her daughter. She was set to board a train to return home on November 17, 2023, but was seized at the Chengdu East Train Station that day, after security officers found flash drives and banknotes printed with Falun Gong messages in her luggage. They took her to the police station within the train station and interrogated her.
The police summoned Ms. Zhao’s daughter and ordered her to accompany them in driving Ms. Zhao back to Suining City. The Chengdu police and their counterparts from the Jiefu Road Police Station in Suining raided Ms. Zhao’s home before they released her on bail.
Two uniformed female officers knocked on Ms. Zhao’s door after 10 a.m. on December 5, 2023. They said that they were instructed to check in on her. One of them whipped out a cell phone and began taking photos of Ms. Zhao.
The two officers left but soon called Ms. Zhao’s son, warning him to keep an eye on his mother to make sure she did not go out to distribute Falun Gong materials. They also said they’d call him once every month.
The Chengdu police called Ms. Zhao’s daughter on December 11, 2023 and ordered her to come in and sign some paperwork.
Two male officers and two people from the Yanshi Street Committee in Chuanshan District, Suining City, including secretary Duan and her subordinate Zhang, harassed Ms. Zhao at her home on April 17, 2024. They forced her to give them her cell phone number and wifi password. They took photos of her router. They also called her son from time to time to ask about her situation.
The Chengdu police submitted Ms. Zhao’s case to the Chengdu Railroad Transportation Procuratorate, which soon proceeded to indict her. Her son received a phone call from the Chengdu Railroad Transportation Court on the evening of May 5, 2024, saying that his mother was set to stand trial the next day. The Chengdu police traveled to Suining the following morning and took Ms. Zhao to Chengdu to face a judge. She was sentenced to a six-month prison term on June 21.
It is unclear whether Ms. Zhao, who lives alone and suffers from severe eye disease and mobility issues, has been taken back into custody.
78-Year-Old Sichuan Widow Indicted for Practicing Falun Gong