(Minghui.org) A 65-year-old resident of Jingyu County was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison on October 31, 2018 for her faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body discipline persecuted by the communist regime since 1999. She filed an appeal to the Baishan City Intermediate Court in early November.

Ms. Chen Shumei's sentencing came one year after she was arrested after being followed by plainclothes officer for talking to people about Falun Gong on November 1, 2017. The police ransacked her home and confiscated her Falun Gong books and computers.

The detention center initially refused to admit Ms. Chen due to her unusually high blood pressure, but later relented after being pressured by the head of the Domestic Security Division, Yu Xuejun, who left his phone number with the detention center staff and said they could call him should anything happen to Ms. Chen.

The police put Ms. Chen under criminal detention on November 15, after reaching the 15-day limit for administrative detention. The Jingyu County Procuratorate approved her arrest on December 1, but it never notified Ms. Chen or her family. Her lawyer visited the procuratorate on December 8, and only then did he learn that a formal arrest warrant had been issued against his client.

The police submitted her case to the procuratorate on January 11, 2018, which forwarded it to Jingyu County Court on February 8.

The court returned the case to the procuratorate in May, asking for more evidence, before they scheduled the October trial that sent her to prison.

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