(Minghui.org) A 70-year-old woman in Jieyang City, Guangdong Province, was sentenced to four years in September 2023 for her faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Ms. Zhong Liena was arrested on November 25, 2022, while visiting another Falun Gong practitioner, Ms. Wu Rongduan. It’s unclear whether the arresting officers from the Ronghua Police Station followed Ms. Zhong there or were monitoring Ms. Wu in the first place.
The police raided Ms. Zhong’s home and took her to the Jieyang City Detention Center. They’ve never notified her family of her arrest, detention, or subsequent prosecution. Her family received a call from the detention center at the end of September 2023 and was told that she had been sentenced to four years in prison. They still know nothing about the details of her indictment, trial, and sentencing.
Ms. Zhong is appealing her verdict. Prior to her latest sentencing, she was twice sentenced to a total of eight and a half years. She also served two forced labor terms totaling three years.
Past Persecution
Ms. Zhong was arrested on February 7, 2000, while attending a Falun Gong practitioners’ experience-sharing conference in Puning City (about 20 miles away). She was taken back to Jieyang and held at the Rongcheng District Lockup for an unknown amount of time.
The Jieyang City 610 Office and the Rongcheng District 610 Office seized Ms. Zhong on June 25, 2000, while she was doing Falun Gong exercises in Dongfeng Plaza. She was taken to the Rongcheng District Lockup and later given one year of forced labor at the Sanshui Women’s Labor Camp.
In mid-September 2002, Ms. Zhong went to a Falun Gong materials production site and was arrested by police who had been staking it outside after raiding the site earlier on. She was given two years of forced labor at the Sanshui Women’s Labor Camp.
Ms. Zhong was arrested by officers from the Rongdong Police Station in October 2004, after being reported for talking to people about Falun Gong at a parking lot. She was later sentenced to four years in the Guangdong Province Women’s Prison.
On June 19, 2017, the Xichang Town Police Station officers seized Ms. Zhang upon receiving a tip that she was distributing Falun Gong informational materials at the local Huaqing Market. They took her to the Jiedong District Detention Center. The Jiedong District Court sentenced her to four and a half years and she was admitted to the Guangdong Province Women’s Prison in June 2018.
Related report:
Falun Gong Practitioners in Guangdong Women's Prison Brutally Tortured
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