(Minghui.org) A 77-year-old woman in Xiangtan County, Hunan Province, was sentenced to six months of house arrest for her faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since 1999.
According to the verdict issued by the Yuhu District Court on April 21, 2020, Ms. Shi Qiaoyun is prohibited from leaving home without police permission and communicating with others in person or by mail. She was also ordered to turn in her ID, including her passport and driver’s license, and has to show up at the local police station whenever she is summoned.
Ms. Shi was arrested on May 22, 2019, after being reported for distributing informational materials about Falun Gong.
The police searched her home around 11 p.m. on May 22 and verbally abused her. They confiscated three of her Falun Gong books.
The police harassed Ms. Shi on September 24 and 25, 2019, asking her what she was doing and looking around her residence. On the 25th, they arrested her and ransacked her home. She was taken to the hospital with her hands cuffed behind her back.
After Ms. Shi was found to have high blood pressure and a heart condition, the police released her and ordered the local village secretary to monitor her.
The police returned on September 28 and took Ms. Shi to Huashi Police Station, collected her fingerprints, and took pictures of her. She went home later that day.
Ms. Shi was taken to the procuratorate on December 24, 2019, and told that she had been indicted. The Falun Gong materials confiscated from her home were used as evidence for the prosecution, with each page counting as one separate piece of evidence.
Prior to her latest ordeal, Ms. Shi was previously arrested on January 19, 2010, also for distributing Falun Gong materials. She was sentenced to three years, with three years probation. During the eight months she was held in Qilipu Detention Center before the sentencing, she was beaten and verbally abused by the guards.
One guard hit her in the head with hard objects, and she had headaches for two weeks. When Ms. Shi refused to recite the prison rules, the guard forbade her family from visiting her. Another guard attempted to force her to write statements to renounce Falun Gong.