(Minghui.org) A Tianjin woman in her 70s is facing prosecution for her faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since 1999.

Ms. Yang Huimin was arrested on April 23, 2019, by a plainclothes officer at a farmers’ market. The police confiscated the 3,000 yuan cash she brought with her, all of which were printed with messages about Falun Gong. Due to strict information censorship in China, Falun Gong practitioners have been using creative ways to raise awareness about their faith, including printing information on banknotes.

After interrogating Ms. Yang at a police station, the police brought her to a hospital for a physical checkup. She was found to have dangerously high blood pressure and was then released on bail. 

From then on, the police frequently harassed her, sometimes by calling her, and other times harassing her at home. She was under tremendous mental distress and began to suffer memory loss, shortness of breath, mobility impairment, as well as persistently high blood pressure.

Ms. Yang received a notice from the Wuqing Procuratorate around April 25, 2020. The notice stated that her one-year bail was expiring and she was now facing indictment. She was told that she could hire a lawyer on her own, or the government will appoint a lawyer to represent her, who would very likely enter a guilty plea for her due to the communist regime’s persecution policy against Falun Gong.

Many of Ms. Yang’s neighbors condemned the persecution against her.

One neighbor commented, “She is such a nice and honest person. She only practices Falun Gong to improve her health. Now she is getting old, and yet the Communist Party wants to persecute her. What kind of society is this?”

According to people familiar with Ms. Yang, her daughter and son suffered congenital eye disease. Due to failed surgeries, both of them had high myopia and were unable to have a normal job. Because of poor vision, Ms. Yang's son often fell while walking. 

Due to the exhaustion of taking care of her children while doing her full-time job, Ms. Yang developed trigeminal neuralgia, a condition considered the most painful afflictions to humanity. She struggled for years and no medical treatment worked on her. 

Her suffering was eliminated after she took up Falun Gong. But because of upholding her faith after the communist regime ordered the persecution in 1999, Ms. Yang was arrested several times and frequently harassed. 

The mental distress and fear from the persecution took a toll on her husband’s health. He suffered a stroke and was paralyzed. He passed away after being bedridden for a few years. After her husband’s passing, Ms. Yang continued to take care of her mother-in-law, until she passed away at 92.