Jilin Woman Sentenced to Three Years for Practicing Falun Gong, Denied Visits with Family

(Minghui.org) A Gongzhuling City, Jilin Province, resident was admitted to the Jilin Province Women’s Prison on March 21, 2025, to serve a three-year term for practicing Falun Gong.

Ms. Zheng Xiuqin, 63, was arrested on August 30, 2024, by officers from the Dongsan Police Station after being followed by plainclothes officers for talking to people about Falun Gong. She was held at the Gongzhuling City Detention Center and later sentenced to prison by the Gongzhuling City Court. She has been denied visits with her family since her arrest.

Ms. Zheng used to suffer a variety of ailments, including Hepatitis B, heart disease, and neck problems. She tried both traditional Chinese and Western medicine, but didn’t have much improvement. Six months after she took up Falun Gong, she completely recovered.

After the Chinese Communist Party began to persecute Falun Gong in 1999, Ms. Zheng has been repeatedly targeted for holding firm to her faith.

Ms. Zheng accompanied her daughter to Dunhua City in the same province for college in August 2005. She was arrested there on August 31, 2005, after being reported by a taxi driver for talking to him about Falun Gong. Severely injured due to interrogation with torture, she was released on September 3, 2005.

Ms. Zheng took photos of her injuries and filed a complaint with the Dunhua City Women’s Federation, only to be arrested again at 4:30 p.m. on September 16, 2005, and given one year of forced labor.

Ms. Zheng was arrested again on April 18, 2012, at home. Her laptop and Falun Gong books were confiscated. The arresting officers from Jinxue Police Station took her to the Yilan Brainwashing Center. She held a hunger strike for nine days and was transferred to the Heizuizi Women’s Forced Labor Camp in the capital city of Changchun on April 27 to serve a 15-month term.

Because Ms. Zheng refused to renounce Falun Gong, the labor camp guards Wei Dan and Duan Yajuan forced her to stand from 5:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. for five consecutive days. Her legs and feet became severely swollen. Between May 7 and 17, she was tied up in bed. The guards wouldn’t untie her even when she needed to relieve herself. When she was finally removed from the bed, she was unable to lift her left arm. Three inmates, including Wang Ping, Sun Shuxian and Lyu Xiuping, beat her and verbally abused her. Sometimes she was only allowed to sleep for two or three hours a night.