(Minghui.org) A 75-year-old woman in the Ba’nan District of Chongqing was sentenced to three and a half years on September 14, 2024, for raising awareness of the Chinese Communist Party’s persecution of Falun Gong.
Ms. Duan Zaiying’s prison sentence stemmed from her arrest on December 20, 2023, after being reported for talking to people about Falun Gong at a local farmers’ market. She was released on bail that night but was taken back into custody eight days later. Her case was later assigned to the Jiulongpo District, which has been designated to handle Falun Gong cases in the region. (See the first related report at the end of the article for details of her latest arrest.)
The Jiulongpo District Court heard her case on June 5, 2024, and convicted her on September 14. She is appealing the verdict.
Ms. Duan was previously targeted numerous times in the past, resulting in three forced labor terms totaling five and a half years and three prior prison sentences totaling six and a half years. Below is a brief recap of these incidents.
Ms. Duan was sentenced to three years in prison following her arrest on January 31, 2001, for putting up Falun Gong banners. She served time at the Chongqing Juvenile Center and later Chongqing Women’s Prison.
To avoid being arrested again, Ms. Duan left home around April 2004 and move frequently for more than a year. She returned home in 2005, only to be arrested again on August 15 that year, after being reported for talking to people about Falun Gong. The arresting officers from the Caiyuanba Police Station gave her one and a half years in the Nanmusi Forced Labor Camp.
Ba’nan District Police Station officers arrested Ms. Duan on November 23, 2009, after spotting her talking to people about Falun Gong. They gave her two years in the Chongqing Women’s Forced Labor Camp.
Lijiatuo Police Station officers arrested Ms. Duan on February 26, 2012, and gave her another two years in the Chongqing Women’s Forced Labor Camp.
Ms. Duan was arrested on July 7, 2017, after being reported for talking to people about Falun Gong. The arresting officers were from the Tuqiao Police Station. She was later sentenced to one and a half years in prison.
Ms. Duan’s next arrest took place on April 29, 2021. Longzhouwan Police Station officers took her to the Jieshi Town Detention Center. The Jiulongpo District Court sentenced her to two years in prison around October 2022. She was released on April 28, 2023, only to be arrested eight months later and now sentenced to prison for a fourth time.
Recent Examples of Police Brutality Against Falun Gong Practitioners