(Minghui.org) A Jinan City, Shandong Province resident is scheduled to appear in court on December 24, 2019, for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Ding Baoyun, around 65, was arrested on January 1, 2019, after being reported for talking to people and passing out informational materials about Falun Gong.
Although Ms. Ding refused to reveal her name to the police, they found her information in a database and ransacked her home. Ms. Ding was then sent to Jinan Detention Center and held there for 15 days.
The police interrogated Ms. Ding twice during her 15-day detention and asked her where she got the materials. She refused to answer.
Her son paid the 3,000-yuan fine demanded by the police.
Ms. Ding was informed by the Licheng District Procuratorate in early November 2019 that she has been indicted and her case has been transferred to the Zhangqiu Procuratorate.
A few days later, Ms. Ding was ordered to go to the Zhangqiu Procuratorate. When she got there, a prosecutor and a lawyer attempted to force her to write a statement renouncing Falun Gong. They threatened that she would be sentenced to prison if she refused to do so. They also asked her who'd gone with her to distribute information about Falun Gong on January 1, 2019. She again refused to answer.
Ms. Ding has been informed by the Zhangqiu Court that she is scheduled to be tried on December 24, 2019.
This isn’t the first time Ms. Ding has been targeted for her faith. She was arrested on April 22, 2012, and held in detention, also for distributing information about Falun Gong.