(Minghui.org) An 82-year-old woman was jailed in May 2025 to serve a three-year term given in 2023 for her faith in Falun Gong.
Ms. Zhao Guilian, of Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia was harassed at home on January 19, 2022 by Mujiaying Police Station officers. For the next few months, the police returned many more times and threatened to sentence Ms. Zhao to seven years if she didn’t go to the police station to sign statements to renounce Falun Gong. Fearing the persecution, her daughter and son tried to persuade her to cooperate with the police. She refused to comply. Her son threatened to stop providing her with financial support. She didn’t budge.
Shortly after, staffers from the Songshan District Procuratorate came eight times to look for Ms. Zhao. One day they came to deliver her indictment. As she wasn’t home, they pried open the door with the help of a locksmith. Later, the Songshan District Court held a hearing of her case at her home and sentenced her to three years probation at an unknown time in 2023.
In early 2025, court workers suddenly showed up at Ms. Zhao’s door and ordered her to sign a statement to renounce Falun Gong. She said no.
In May 2025, the police seized Ms. Zhao at home and took her straight to the Inner Mongolia Women’s Prison.
Ms. Zhao had an eye disease when she was 7 and became blind in her right eye. Shortly after she took up Falun Gong in 1997, her vision was restored and the dark spots on her face were gone. After the Chinese Communist Party ordered the persecution in 1999, she was given two labor camp terms and a prison term of 3.5 years, before being sentenced again in 2023.
Ms. Zhao was first arrested on July 21, 1999, the day after the persecution officially started, and was detained for 24 hours.
Ms. Zhao and eight other Falun Gong practitioners went to Beijing in March 2000 to appeal for the right to practice their faith and were arrested at the Tiananmen Square. After she was taken back to Chifeng, Liang Zhanting, head of the Songshan Domestic Security Office, beat and verbally abused her. She was later given one year at the Hohhot Women’s Forced Labor Camp. Because she refused to renounce Falun Gong, she was forced to stand for long hours every day for three months.
Shortly after Ms. Zhao was released, she was arrested again after being reported for talking to people about the persecution. She was held in a metal cage in the police station for a day and then transferred to the Yuanlin Road Detention Center, where she was held for 21 days.
To avoid further persecution, Ms. Zhao was forced to live away from home in 2003.
Led by Xu Guofeng, the head of the Songshan District Domestic Security Office, 21 officers from the Damiao Town Police Station broke into Ms. Zhao’s home at 10 p.m. on July 20, 2008. As she refused to open the door, the police released tear gas into her home and broke in after smashing all the windows.
Both Ms. Zhao and her husband, Mr. Chen Zongwu, were carried out by the police. After being held at the Damiao Town Police Station overnight, they were transferred to the Songshan District Detention Center. Mr. Chen was released ten days later. Ms. Zhao remained in custody and was transferred to the Hohhot Women’s Forced Labor Camp around September 2008 to serve another 1.5-year term.
Ms. Zhao was riding in her sister’s car one day in 2011 when they were stopped by a traffic police officer. Upon seeing a Falun Gong rearview mirror ornament, the officer called the Hongshan District Domestic Security Office. Two officers came and arrested them. Liang Zhanting, then head of Hongshan District Domestic Security Office, submitted Ms. Zhao’s case to the Hongshan District Procuratorate. She was soon indicted and later sentenced to 3.5 years by the Hongshan District Court.
While serving time at the Inner Mongolia Women’s Prison, Ms. Zhao was monitored by the inmates around the clock, who beat and verbally abused her at will. She wasn’t even allowed to move or turn during sleep.
Ms. Zhao was arrested again in December 2021 while walking on the street. She was held at the Mujiaying Police Station and released after a few hours.