(Minghui.org) A 73-year-old woman in Qiqihar City, Heilongjiang Province, was admitted to the Heilongjiang Province Women’s Prison in June 2026 to serve a two-year term for practicing Falun Gong.
The wrongful conviction of Ms. Zhou Shuhua, born in October 1952, stemmed from her arrest on September 12, 2023, after she was reported for distributing Falun Gong informational materials. The Zhengyang Police Station took her to a detention center, and she was later released on bail due to high blood pressure.
The police submitted the case to the Longsha District Procuratorate. Ms. Zhou was indicted at an unknown time. The Jianhua District Court sentenced her to two years with a 5,000-yuan fine in October 2025.
Ms. Zhou was not immediately taken back into custody to serve time after her sentencing, but the police seized her on May 6, 2026, and put her in a detention center. They transferred her to the Heilongjiang Province Women’s Prison in June 2026. She still had high blood pressure, but the prison admitted her and put her in the prison hospital, where she remains.
Ms. Zhou took up Falun Gong in August 1995 and recovered from her numerous diseases, including bone spurs in her neck, rib cage, and spine, nephritis, gastric disorders, gallbladder disease, cardiac arrhythmia, and chronic pharyngitis. She also became a kinder and more considerate person.
After the Chinese Communist Party started persecuting Falun Gong in July 1999, Ms. Zhou held firm to her faith and became a target.
Chief Tian from the Zhengyang Police Station led a group of officers and broke into Ms. Zhou’s home after 7 p.m. on March 4, 2005. She was not in, and the police punched her husband in the temples, causing bruises on one side of his face. They also hung him up and ordered him to locate her.
Ms. Zhou’s husband had no way but to lead the police to their daughter’s home, where Ms. Zhou was staying. Shortly after midnight, the police pried open the daughter’s door and confiscated Falun Gong books, three computers, a color printer, a laser printer, and a recorder.
Ms. Zhou, her husband, their daughter, and son-in-law were all taken to the Zhengyang Police Station. To extract confessions, the police hung Ms. Zhou up to a heating pipe and beat her son-in-law so hard that his nose bled profusely.
While her husband, daughter, and son-in-law were released after 65 hours, Ms. Zhou remained in detention and faced more torture. On the morning of March 5, 2005, the police wrapped her hands and feet in towels and handcuffed her to metal bars. They then put a motorcycle helmet on her head and slammed her head against the wall. There were no external injuries, but she suffered severe internal injuries. The torture didn’t stop until she passed out. After she came to, she found herself unable to lift her arms or walk.
Ms. Zhou was transferred to a detention center on March 11, 2005. She remained unable to walk or take care of herself, but was denied bail. She was later sentenced to seven years and admitted to the Heilongjiang Province Women’s Prison on August 16, 2006.
The guards at the ninth division instigated the inmates to torture Ms. Zhou. They forced her to watch videos slandering Falun Gong and ordered her to renounce her faith. Whenever she refused, she was forced to sit on a small stool or stand for long hours, deprived of sleep, denied restroom use, and made to do hard labor (including packing toothpicks and weaving ropes).
Once, Ms. Zhou was forced to sit on a small stool for 36 straight days without being allowed to sleep. Her legs became so swollen that her pants no longer fit. Her systolic blood pressure shot up to 180 mmHg (a normal range is 120 or lower), and her heart rate to 120 beats per minute (a normal range is 60-100).
After Ms. Zhou was released on May 10, 2010, she faced constant harassment from local community worker Ma and Caihong Police Station agents. When she was not in, they took pictures of her family members and recorded their voices.
Chief Fu from the Caihong Police Station led officers and broke into Ms. Zhou’s home after 9 a.m. on December 4, 2015. They took her to the police station and later to a detention center. Her family warned the police that she suffered from heart conditions and high blood pressure. She was taken for a physical exam and released four days later.
Ms. Zhou was arrested on March 29, 2021, together with two other practitioners, including Ms. Chen Yujun and Mr. Jin Yunfei. They were released after the local detention center declined to admit them due to high blood pressure.