(Minghui.org) A woman in Maoming City, Guangdong Province, was sentenced to three years for practicing Falun Gong. Ms. Luo Ji’s family was notified by the Maoming City Intermediate Court in late December 2021 that her motion to reconsider the wrongful prison sentence had been rejected earlier that month. When Ms. Luo’s son couldn’t afford to pay the 10,000 yuan the court fined her, the authorities withdrew the amount from her personal bank account.
Ms. Luo’s family also learned that she was found to have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, aortic and tricuspid insufficiency, and adnexal cyst. It’s not clear whether they have applied for medical parole for her.
Ms. Luo, 73, was arrested on August 10, 2020, for giving out informational materials about Falun Gong at a farmers’ market. Falun Gong is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999. She was released the next day and placed under house arrest.
The Maonan District Procuratorate indicted her on October 27 and moved her case to the Maonan District Court on November 11. Ms. Luo was tried on January 8, 2021, and sentenced to three years with a 10,000-yuan fine on February 5, 2021. She was taken back into custody in the Maoming City No. 1 Detention Center after she was sentenced.
Ms. Luo appealed to the Maoming City Intermediate Court, which ruled to uphold her original verdict on April 30, 2021. Ms. Luo’s lawyer later filed a motion to reconsider her case. When the lawyer visited her on July 9, 2021, he noticed that she had aged quickly over the past few months and only had a few teeth left. Nevertheless, she was still in good spirits.
Detention center officials called Ms. Luo’s son on August 24 and told him to get a coronavirus test. He did and was allowed to see his mother after the test results came back negative. She looked thin and said she was suffering from high blood pressure.
Her son received a notice from the Guangdong Province Women’s Prison a week later stating that those over 70 years old aren’t required to do forced labor in the prison, but they can’t have their terms reduced.
Ms. Luo was taken to the prison on August 28 and is set to be released on February 5, 2024.
Related reports:
Woman in Her 70s Imprisoned for Practicing Falun Gong
Guangdong Woman’s Appeal Against Wrongful Term for Her Faith Rejected
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