(Minghui.org) A 57-year-old resident of Yushu City, Jilin Province, was sentenced to eight months in June 2024 for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Ms. Liu Guilan is incarcerated at the Jilin Province Women’s Prison. Her ordeal stemmed from her arrest at home around 7 p.m. on December 23, 2023. Another local practitioner, Ms. Zhang Shuhua, 70, was arrested around the same time. The police alleged that a surveillance camera recorded the two women distributing Falun Gong informational materials in a residential area.
While it is legal to distribute Falun Gong informational materials, Ms. Zhang and Ms. Liu did not do so at the said residential area during the time the police claimed.
The local lockup refused to admit Ms. Zhang after she failed the required physical examination. The arresting officers from the Zhengyang Police Station released her on bail but kept Ms. Liu at the lockup for 13 days before transferring her to a local detention center on January 5, 2024. That same day, the police also visited Ms. Zhang and notified her that she had been formally put on bail.
The Dehui City Procuratorate later took over the cases. Both Dehui and Yushu are under the administration of Changchun (the capital city of Jilin Province).
Ms. Zhang was tried at home virtually on June 21, 2024. The virtual hearing was due to the fact that she failed the required physical examination multiple times and that she suffered severe head, arm, and leg injuries after taking a fall days prior to the hearing. Instead of allowing her time to recover, the Dehui City Court decided to go ahead with a virtual hearing.
Ms. Liu also stood trial around the same time, though it was unclear whether the hearing was conducted at the detention center or at the Dehui City Court. Her family recently confirmed she was convicted in June 2024, while Ms. Zhang’s case status is unknown.
Both women have previously been targeted for their faith. Ms. Liu was detained for 28 days after the police discovered Falun Gong books in her home in September 1999. She was arrested again on January 22, 2007, and given one year of forced labor fifteen days later, after her family was unable to pay a fine.
Ms. Zhang was also repeatedly arrested and given one year of forced labor in 2000. She was fired from her job as a street committee worker.
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