(Minghui.org) A woman in Yushu City was recently sentenced to 3.5 years in prison for spreading information about Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline being persecuted by the Chinese communist regime. Three other locals charged with the same were tried during the same court session.
Ms. Wang Xiuying, 80, was arrested on January 29, 2016 and later released on bail due to her advanced age. The local police, however, kept harassing her at home. She went into hiding, only to see her family threatened by police. She was brought to court on June 13, 2017 to hear the guilty verdict against her, though it is unclear when she was tried.
Ms. Zhao Yujing, Ms. Wang Yulan (no relation to the above Ms. Wang), and Ms. Zhu Yanling appeared in court at the same time as the elderly Ms. Wang.
Ms. Zhu was first arrested on September 12, 2012. She soon developed some health problems and was released on medical parole. Police took her back into custody on March 30, 2017. Her lawyer wasn’t informed of the hearing, so she faced the trial without legal representation.
Ms. Zhao and the younger Ms. Wang were arrested on January 5, 2017. It is unclear whether they had lawyers defending them in court.
The four practitioners had a total of six family members allowed inside the courtroom, while police occupied the rest of the more than 40 seats.
Three local practitioners were arrested for showing up at the courthouse to support the aforementioned four practitioners. Gao Fenglian, Zhang Shuhua and Zhang Xingrong weren’t released until several hours later.
