(Minghui.org) A 75-year-old Tianjin resident was sentenced to two and a half years with an 8,000-yuan fine following two court appearances in early 2024 for her faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Ran Guanquan was arrested by five officers from the Xiangyang Police Station on December 1, 2023 and taken to the Binhai New District First Detention Center. Her arrest was approved by the Binhai New District Procuratorate on December 15.
Starting in mid-February 2024, Ms. Ran began feeling weak. She needed help to walk and get out of bed. Her eyesight became blurry. She fainted twice and was incontinent. Her family said she was perfectly healthy before her arrest and they were worried that she became ill as a result of torture and abuse.
Shortly after Ms. Ran fell ill, she was taken to the Tanggu Hospital by Zhang Xiapeng, deputy head of the detention center, and two male guards. Because she refused to cooperate with Zhang during the examination, he slapped her face at least four times. Zhang also refused to reveal her examination results. Even though her symptoms persisted, the authorities refused to release her on bail.
Prosecutor Wang Tian threatened to get Ms. Ran sentenced to four years if she refused to plead guilty in exchange for a lighter sentence. The Binhai New District Court heard her case on March 26 and April 2, 2024. It is unclear when the court issued the guilty verdict of her after the two hearings. Her latest 2.5-year prison sentence was preceded by a 3.5-year jail term given after an arrest in 2014.
Ms. Ran used to suffer many ailments in her 30s, including a heart condition, shortness of breath, frozen shoulder, and a neck problem. She went to many large hospitals in Beijing and Tianjin hoping for a cure, but with no success. Just six months after she began practicing Falun Gong, she completely recovered. After the persecution started in 1999, she was repeatedly targeted for refusing to renounce her faith.
Ms. Ran was arrested in June 2010 by officers of the Tanggu Police Station and detained for ten days. She was arrested again in September 2014 by officers from the Xiangyang Police Station and her home was ransacked. The Binhai New District Court held two hearings of her case, before sentencing Ms. Ran to 3.5 years. She appealed to the Tianjin Second Intermediate Court, but that court ruled to uphold her original verdict without a hearing. Neither her lawyer nor her family were informed of the decision.
On July 10, 2023, just five months before Ms. Ran’s latest arrest, she was seized by officers from the Xiangyang Police Station, but was released hours later.