(Minghui.org) It was recently learned that a 63-year-old resident of Qingcheng County, Gansu Province, had been sentenced to four years for her faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Ms. Liu Yuqin was arrested at home on September 19, 2023, after being reported for distributing Falun Gong informational materials earlier that day. The arresting officers from the Heshui County Domestic Security Division confiscated more than one hundred copies of Falun Gong materials, two Falun Gong books, one music player, one laptop, and three cell phones. They took Ms. Liu and her husband to the Heshui County Police Department for interrogation. Ms. Liu’s husband was released that night and she was taken to the Ning County Detention Center.
Ning County, Heshui County, and Qingcheng County are all under the administration of Qingyang City, which later assigned the case to another subordinate county, Zhenyuan.
A judge from the Zhenyuan County Court tried Ms. Liu at the Ning County Detention Center on January 11, 2024. Her lawyer argued that no law in China criminalizes Falun Gong and that she was within her right to distribute the eight copies of materials she was reported for.
Ms. Liu also testified in her own defense but was convicted months later (exact time unknown). She was then transferred to the Zhengning County Detention Center. Zhengning is under the jurisdiction of Qingyang City, too.
Minghui.org recently confirmed Ms. Liu’s four-year sentence. She is currently appealing her wrongful conviction.
This is not the first time that Ms. Liu has been targeted for her faith, which she credits for curing her heart disease, hepatitis B, neurasthenia, insomnia, migraine, and gastritis. After the persecution of Falun Gong began in July 1999, the local police harassed her at home or at work frequently, trying to make her renounce Falun Gong. They also raided her home numerous times and seized her Falun Gong books.
Ms. Liu was at work at around 4 p.m. on April 15, 2009, when a group of officers from the Chengguan Police Station and the Qingcheng County Domestic Security Division showed up and deceived her into going with them. They raided her home and took her to the Qingcheng County Police Department, where she was handcuffed to a bench and interrogated overnight.
Ms. Liu was later moved to the Huan County Detention Center and then Qingcheng County Detention Center. Huan County is also part of the great Qingyang City region.
During her detention, the guards and the inmates abused her and insulted her. She was then sentenced to three years and admitted to the Gansu Province Women’s Prison on May 18, 2010. Her employer, Longdong Middle School, fired her after her wrongful conviction.
By the time Ms. Liu was released in 2012, she had suffered irreparable damage to her physical and mental health. She was emaciated and fell into critical condition at one point.
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