(Minghui.org) A 70-year-old resident of Ankang City, Shaanxi Province, was admitted to the Shaanxi Province Women’s Prison on March 21, 2024 after losing her appeal against a six-year jail term for practicing Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Ms. Luo Changyun was arrested on May 30, 2022. She was sentenced to six years and fined 50,000 yuan on October 27, 2023. It was unclear which appeals court ruled to uphold her wrongful conviction at what time, but what is known is that she was transferred to prison even before she received a copy of the official ruling.
This is not the first time Ms. Luo has been targeted for her faith. She was arrested more than 20 times in the past 24 years. She was given forced labor terms three times, totaling six and a half years between 2000 and 2007 and was sentenced to five years in prison in 2008. Her husband divorced her under pressure, and their two daughters were also implicated.
The authorities suspended Ms. Luo’s pension a few years ago while she was still serving her first prison term. She sought to have her pension reinstated, only to be arrested and given a second prison term.
A Quick Recap of Ms. Luo’s Latest Persecution
The local social security bureau suspended Ms. Luo’s pension from April 1, 2010, to January 1, 2013, when she was still serving her five-year prison term. They later reinstated her pension, but suspended it again in 2016. She has not received any pension benefits since then.
Ms. Luo mailed a letter to the social security bureau on January 8, 2022, requesting that her pension be reinstated and urging them to stop persecuting her financially for practicing Falun Gong.
She also mailed another letter to the secretary of the Ankang City Discipline Committee, the secretary of the Ankang City Police Department Political and Legal Affairs Committee, the Gaoxin Post Office Postmaster, and the deputy secretary of the Hanbin District Political and Legal Affairs Committee. In her letter she explained how Falun Gong resolved her stubborn illnesses and how people in more than 100 countries practice Falun Gong. She urged the officials to stop following the CCP in persecuting innocent Falun Gong practitioners like her. She also asked that they uphold justice for her and help reinstate her pension.
The social security bureau and those government officials sent her letters to the Hanbin District Police Department Domestic Security Office. The police arrested her on May 30, 2022 and took her for a physical examination, which is required for detention.
As her blood pressure readings were 184/140 mmHg and the Hanbin District Detention Center refused to admit her (in China, detention facilities usually do not accept anyone whose systolic blood pressure, the top number in the readings, is 180 mmHg or higher), Zhao Silin, head of the Hanbin District Domestic Security Division, took her to another hospital and directed his daughter, who worked there, to change Ms. Luo’s blood pressure readings to 179/140 mmHg.
With the altered readings, Ms. Luo was admitted to the Hanbin District Detention Center.
Ms. Luo stood trial on June 2, 2023. Her two lawyers requested that the court hold responsible officers Zhao, Zhou Yunshui, and Bamacimu for fabricating her blood pressure readings. The lawyers also demanded justice against prosecutors Cheng Lina, Zhang Xiuqiong, and Zhang Pucha for failing to investigate the police officer’s fabrication of Ms. Luo’s health records.
The Hanbin District Court sentenced Ms. Luo to six years with a 50,000-yuan fine on October 27, 2023.
Related reports:
Ten Falun Gong Practitioner Deaths Due to Persecution Reported in September 2023
Police Alter Woman's Blood Pressure Readings in Order to Get Her Detained
Ms. Luo Changyun Arrested Again for Suing Jiang Zemin
Shaanxi Teacher's Family Tragedy
Ms. Luo Changyun Sentenced to Prison After Being Held in a Forced Labor Camp Three Times
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