(Minghui.org) A 61-year-old woman in Jinzhou City, Liaoning Province, was recently admitted to the Liaoning Province Women’s Prison to serve a six-year term for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Zhang Xiuqin was arrested on January 17, 2024, by officers from the Guta District Domestic Security Division. They submitted her case to the Linghai City Procuratorate, which indicted her and moved her case to the Linghai City Court. Linghai City is under jurisdiction of Jinzhou and has been designated to handle Falun Gong cases in the greater Jinzhou area.
Ms. Zhang appeared in the Linghai City Court on April 11, 2024. Her lawyer and family defender entered a “not guilty” plea on her behalf. She also testified in her own defense. The judge announced on May 10 that she was sentenced to six years with a 12,000-yuan fine. She appealed to the Jinzhou City Intermediate Court, which ruled to uphold her original verdict. She was transferred from the Jinzhou City Women’s Detention Center to the Liaoning Province Women’s Prison between August 18 and 21.
Ms. Zhang’s father, in his late 80s, was devastated by her sentencing, and his health quickly declined. He passed away on July 18, 2024.
Prior to her latest arrest and sentence, Ms. Zhang has been repeatedly targeted for her faith over the past 25 years. She was subjected to relentless torture and almost had a mental breakdown during a two-year forced labor camp term given in 2000.
On June 26, 2000, Ms. Zhang headed to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong and was arrested at the Jinzhou Train Station. After two weeks of detention in the Jinzhou Railway Lockup, she was transferred to the Jinzhou City Second Detention Center on July 12 and then taken to the Masanjia Forced Labor Camp on July 21, 2000, to serve a two-year term.
Because Ms. Zhang refused to renounce Falun Gong, head guard Wang Haiping ordered the inmates to torture her. They first deprived her of sleep for three days and then forced her to squat. On the seventh day, inmate Yang Jianhong said to her, “I will give you two more days. If you still don’t give up practicing Falun Gong, we won’t be so easy on you.”
After one week of torture, Ms. Zhang was already exhausted and on the verge of a breakdown. But she still resisted when the inmates held her hand and tried to make her sign a prepared statement to renounce Falun Gong.
On the eighth day, inmate Yang took Ms. Zhang to a small room and again ordered her to write the guarantee statement. When she refused to comply, Yang ordered her to squat. By 7 p.m. that day, Ms. Zhang couldn’t squat anymore. Yang hit her with the handle of a large screwdriver for nearly two hours. Ms. Zhang’s arms, hips, and legs were covered in dark bruises. “You must write the statement today. If you don’t, we will shock you with electric batons,” Yang said to her.
After the electric shocks, Ms. Zhang could no longer walk. Her legs and arms were swollen and stiff. She had to hold onto something to use the restroom because she had trouble squatting. She was stiff for over six weeks.
After Ms. Zhang was released, the police continued to harass her and threatened to detain her in a brainwashing center. She was forced to live away from home and was fired from her job. She did odd jobs to make a living.
The police broke into Ms. Zhang’s home on February 8, 2010, to arrest her again, but she wasn’t home so they raided the place and confiscated her Falun Gong books and computer. They next went to her daughter’s home and took her daughter and son-in-law to the police station for a ten-hour interrogation. Ms. Zhang was forced to live away from home again after this.
Ms. Zhang’s mother Ms. Cai Guifen was so worried about her daughter that her health quickly declined, and she passed away nine months later on November 11, 2010.
Ms. Cai was previously arrested at an unknown date, also for practicing Falun Gong. She began drooling after she was released and her family suspected that she was given toxic drugs while in custody. The police continued to monitor her daily life after her release. The mental distress took a toll on her health and she became incapacitated.
Related Reports:
Liaoning Woman Loses Appeal Against Six-Year Wrongful Sentence, Father Passes Away Two Weeks Later
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