(Minghui.org) Having served three labor camp terms, a prison term and lost her son in the persecution of Falun Gong, a woman in her late 60s was recently sentenced to another prison term of 6.5 years.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual and meditation discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Wang Pengying, of Shulan City, Jilin Province, was arrested on September 28, 2020 and detained at the Jilin City Detention Center. Her family recently learned about her prison sentence, but is still being kept in the dark of the details.
Ms. Wang’s husband, a coal mine worker, died due to a workplace accident many years ago. She raised their son, Fan Guang, by herself with her meager income and often wondered why her life was so miserable. She, however, found joy in life again after she was introduced to Falun Gong.
When the persecution suddenly started on July 20, 1999, Ms. Wang was arrested and held at the Nanshan Detention Center. For doing the Falun Gong meditation, she and other six practitioners were ordered to stand in a line. Guard Liu Guirong whipped them with a leather belt and hit each of them on the buttocks with a shovel 30 times. After their buttocks were bruised, the guard forced them to wear heavy shackles to further intensify their suffering.
After Ms. Wang was released, she felt compelled to speak up for Falun Gong. Unable to afford the train ticket to Beijing, she rode a bike and travelled over 700 miles to appeal for Falun Gong. After she was arrested and taken back to Shulan, the police gave her a one-year labor camp term.
Ms. Wang was arrested again in November 2002 by officers of the Shulanjie Police Station. Knowing her family’s financial situation, chief Zhao Zhenguo extorted money from her sister instead. Zhao first ordered her sister to pay a 500-yuan fine on her behalf.
When Ms. Wang’s sister agreed to pay, Zhao asked for 1,000 yuan instead. After she managed to raise 1,000 yuan, Zhao increased the amount to 1,500 yuan. As she was unable to gather enough money to pay for the extortion, the police retaliated by giving Ms. Wang another one-year term at Heizuizi Forced Labor Camp.
After Ms. Wang was incarcerated, the authorities also deprived her son, who had just graduated from college, of the workers’ compensation he and his mother had been entitled to due to his father’s fatal workplace injury. He fell ill even before he was able to find a job. Lack of income drove him to live a destitute life, which further worsened his condition.
By the time Ms. Wang was released after being forced to serve one extra month in the labor camp, her son had become critically ill and was merely skin and bones. Ms. Wang took him to the hospital, but it was too late. He died on April 10, 2004.
Thirteen days later, while still mourning the death of her son, Ms. Wang was arrested again on April 23, 2004 by Jiang Zehang from the Nancheng Police Station and given a third one-year term at Changchun Women’s Forced Labor Camp.
The torture caused Ms. Wang to suffer a heart condition. She was emaciated and extremely weak. Yet the guards still forced her to get up in the early morning and stand for long hours during the day. She almost collapsed and fell a few times. As she still refused to renounce Falun Gong, her term was extended for five days.
Ms. Wang was arrested with several other practitioners on October 12, 2016 while going to the nearby Xin’an Village to distribute informational materials about the persecution. The practitioners were taken back to Shulan at around 11 p.m. and interrogated at several police stations. It’s reported that officers of the Shulan City Domestic Security Office and Jilin City Police Department have monitored the practitioners for a long time and carefully planned the arrests.
Ms. Wang and five practitioners stood trial at the Shulan City Court on May 19, 2017. When a practitioner’s lawyer entered not guilty plea for her, the judge stopped him and claimed that what he said was unrelated to the case. Other practitioners’ lawyers also entered not guilty plea for them. Most of them focused on the lack of legal basis of the persecution and the practitioners’ distributing materials didn’t harm anyone or violate the law.
Ms. Wang was sentenced to 2.5 years with 3 years probation, as well as a 30,0000-yuan fine. Both Ms. Chen Yuxia and Ms. Xi Yahong were sentenced to 2 years with 2 years probation and a 20,000-yuan fine. Both of their families paid 5,000 yuan only. The verdicts of the other three practitioners, including Ms. Tai Lijuan, Mr. Wang Xiwu and Ms. Wang Yuzhen, were unknown at the time of writing.
After Ms. Wang was released on August 16, 2017, the local justice bureau continued to monitor her daily activities. She lived under tremendous pressure. No matter where she went, she felt she was followed by the police.
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