(Minghui.org) Ms. Zou Yufang (邹玉芳), a Falun Gong practitioner from Jilin Province, was illegally sentenced to a four-and-a-half-year term on September 9. Her family was not notified of the trial.

The family has had difficulties securing a defense lawyer for Ms. Zou, as many lawyers stated that “orders from above” prohibited them from accepting cases on behalf of Falun Gong practitioners.

Ms. Zou, in her 60s, is from Da'an City, Jilin. She was arrested on August 4 and has been held at the Baicheng City Detention Center.

Her arrest was approved by the local Procuratorate a few days after the arrest. The sentencing followed within a month.

Ms. Zou was previously arrested on January 31, 2013. She was released on a one-year 10,000-yuan bail in April, after being diagnosed with stomach cancer. Ms. Zou had been brutally tortured at the Tongyu Detention Center.

Local policemen started harassing Ms. Zou at home soon after her release. She was forced to leave home to avoid further persecution, despite being ill.

Officers from the Changhong Police Station, including director Liu Yanzhuo (柳岩茁), visited Ms. Zou's home and the home of her out-of-town relatives in April 2014, in an attempt to arrest her. They returned several months later and arrested Ms. Zou from home in August.