(Minghui.org) A woman in Lingyuan City was recently sentenced to four years in prison for talking to people about Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline being persecuted by the Chinese communist regime.
Ms. Wang Yanqiu, in her 40s, was arrested on October 12, 2016 and tried on May 18, 2017. She is now appealing her case.
Ms. Wang credits Falun Gong with returning her to health and saving her marriage. As such, she never shied away from exposing the illegal persecution of Falun Gong. Her simple act landed her in police custody repeatedly, and she was sentenced to three years in prison back in 2002. The abuse she suffered in prison resulted in premature menopause, crushing her hopes of having a second child.
Prior Arrests
Ms. Wang was first arrested days after the persecution began on July 20, 1999. She was detained for 20 days.
She was arrested again around early 2001 and detained for 15 days. A few days after her release, police broke into her home again. She was not there, and they forced her husband to sign a statement promising to keep her from practicing Falun Gong. Her son, who is autistic, was traumatized by the incident.
Ms. Wang was forced to live away from home in autumn 2002, after police threatened to arrest her again. She later went to Tiananmen Square to appeal against the persecution. She was arrested and detained at Miyun Detention Center in Beijing before being taken back to her city and held at the Lingyuan City Detention Center.
She was sentenced to three years in prison about eight months later. She served her time at Shenyang City Women’s Prison, where she was forced to do hard labor without pay and given meager amounts of food.
The local school refused to admit her son due to her imprisonment. Now in his 20s, the young man has never received a formal education.
Ms. Wang was seized at home around August 2012. Her husband was doing odd jobs out of town, and she needed someone to care for her son. The police, however, didn’t allow her to call her mother-in-law until after she made repeated requests.
The police tried to fabricate a photo using Photoshop that depicted Ms. Wang hanging a banner bearing a Falun Gong message, but their attempt to frame her was defeated by her family. She was detained for 15 days and had 5,400 yuan extorted from her before being released.
The local detention center refused to accept the winter clothes her family sent in following her latest arrest in October 2016.
