(Minghui.org) Since late 2022, the police in Jiujiang City, Jiangxi Province have arrested multiple Falun Gong practitioners. To date, three practitioners have been sentenced and seven are awaiting verdict. 

Three Sentenced

Ms. Zhou Meili, 66, was arrested on June 11, 2022. She was sentenced to 3.5 years by the Yongxiu County Court on November 11, 2022. Prior to her latest sentencing, Ms. Zhou has served three labor camp terms and two prison terms for a total of 13.5 years.

Ms. Wu Huanhuan, a young mother, was arrested on August 14, 2022. She was sentenced to three years and eight months at the Jiangxi Province Women’s Prison. 

Since the Chinese communist regime began to persecute Falun Gong in 1999, the Jiangxi Province Women’s Prison has been actively persecuting jailed practitioners. The prison uses innumerable methods of torture, attempting to force practitioners to give up their faith. Tortures include forcing them to stand still for long periods of time, intensive slave labor, beatings, hanging them from their handcuffed wrists, tying them up, humiliation, coercive brainwashing, administering nerve-altering drugs, and sleep deprivation.

Torture illustration: stretching

Mr. Liu Junhua, a college student, was arrested in August 2022. He once held a hunger strike at a detention center to protest the persecution. During his detention, the authorities kept harassing his parents and threatening to sentence him to seven years. His parents, both retired college professors, sought help from Mr. Liu’s university to free him from detention, but to no avail. It’s recently been confirmed by Minghui.org that Mr. Liu has been sentenced to four years and six months by the Yongxiu County Court. He has appealed the verdict.

Seven Await Verdict

Ms. Tong Jinping was arrested at around 5 a.m. on June 16, 2022. Her 15-year-old granddaughter and 12-year-old grandson, who were living with her because their parents were working out of town, were terrified. Both children were left at home by themselves following Ms. Tong’s arrest, before their father entrusted a neighbor to help care for them.

Ms. Tong was tried in the Jiujiang City Intermediate Court on January 13, 2023. Her lawyer entered a not-guilty plea for her. The judge threatened to give her a heavy term if she didn’t renounce Falun Gong. She refused to renounce her faith. 

Although Ms. Tong appeared to be healthy during the video hearing, a police officer called her family in mid-March and told them that she had developed diabetes and high blood pressure. She has developed an infection due to complications of the diabetes. She also has severe abdominal swelling and is unable to care for herself. She is so weak that two people need to help her use the restroom. The court denied her family’s request to visit her and also refused to respond to their request to have her released for medical treatment. Her family asked to visit her in person, but their request was denied. 

In addition to Ms. Tong, six more practitioners, including Ms. Yu Hanmei, Ms. Guo Xiurong, Mr. Li Shuiqiao, Ms. Liu Huiping, Ms. Li Chaoqun and her daughter have been tried and are now awaiting verdict.