(Minghui.org) The Pinggu District Court in Beijing sentenced Ms. Zhang Shuxiang to a three-year prison term on November 26, 2017, and fined her 6,000 yuan. She is being targeted by the authorities for her belief in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline being persecuted by the communist regime.
Ms. Zhang, 68, from the Pinggu District, was arrested on June 21, 2017. Four or five officers from the Xinggu Police Station ransacked her home, but did not show any identification at the time. They seized a few hundred yuan in cash and some Falun Gong pamphlets.
The police did not provide a list of the items they confiscated, and forced Ms. Zhang's husband to sign their paperwork.
Ms. Zhang's family was not told where she had been taken, and only found out a week later that she was being held in the Pinggu Detention Center.
The Beijing Procuratorate indicted Ms. Zhang on July 24.
Ms. Zhang had serious symptoms of high blood pressure in the detention center. The authorities there would not allow her lawyer to visit her, and he has since applied to the Procuratorate to have her released on bail to receive medical treatment.
Ms. Zhang had many illnesses before she began to practice Falun Gong, including high blood pressure, leg pain and she had difficulty walking. Her health issues were resolved soon after she took up the practice. However, they returned after she was arrested and detained.
During Ms. Zhang's trial, her husband was not allowed in the court. The authorities claimed it was because he had signed the investigation record when the police ransacked their home, and was therefore considered a witness.
