(Minghui.org) Arrests and sentencing of the elderly in China for practicing Falun Gong is not uncommon. Ms. Gao Xirong and Ms. Guo Lianqing, both in their 70s, from Baiyin City in Gansu Province were each sentenced to four and a half years in prison. They were taken to the Gansu Province Women's Prison on February 28, 2014.
Ms. Gao and Ms. Guo were reported to the authorities when they clarified the truth to a girl in Linlang Shop in the Pingchuan District on December 21, 2012. They were arrested by officers from the Dashuitou Police Station and taken to the Baiyin Detention Center. However, the guards there refused to admit them because of their age. They were released at 2 a.m. on December 22, 2012.
Ms. Gao and Ms. Guo were harassed, followed, and monitored by officer Zhang Dongli in April 2013. Zhang later reported them to the Pingchuan District Procuratorate for telling people that Falun Dafa is good. They were taken to the Pingchuan Court by Zhang Xiaoping from the Procuratorate.
They were later released, but then put under house arrest. Their homes were monitored 24 hours a day. Officer Zhang constantly went to their homes to harass and threaten them.
Officers Lu Jianrong and Zhang Dongli from the Dashuitou Police Station burst into Ms. Guo's home on February 8, 2014, to arrest her. She and her family resisted. Then they went to Ms. Gao's home and arrested her.
Five days later, officers Lu and Zhang went to Ms. Guo's home again with an arrest warrant. Ms. Guo and her family once again resisted, but the police threatened them. The police told the family that if they tried to stop them again, they would all be arrested. Ms. Guo was subsequently taken to the Baiyin Detention Center.
Ms. Guo's family went to the local police station, police department, and Pingchuan Court to ask for the release of Ms. Guo. Those on duty told them that they were just carrying out orders.
In the end, Ms. Gao and Ms. Guo were each sentenced to four and a half years by the Pingchuan Court in Baiyin City and taken to the Gansu Women's Prison on February 28, 2014.
Ms. Guo, 71, and Ms. Gao, 70, both suffered from many health problems. After they practiced Falun Gong, their ailments disappeared. Since the Chinese Communist Party initiated the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999, they have been arrested and taken to forced labor camps many times. They continue to practice and believe in Falun Gong.
