(Minghui.org) Ms. Zhang Fengqin, a 69-year-old Falun Gong practitioner from Tongliao City, Inner Mongolia, was sentenced to two years in Hohhot Women's Prison, where she was held in solitary confinement for refusing to renounce her faith.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) since July 1999.
Arrest and Detention
Ms. Zhang was arrested on the evening of June 4, 2016, after being reported for talking to people about Falun Gong. Her home was searched shortly afterward. The police confiscated her computer and her cell phone.
She was interrogated overnight at Huolinhe Police Station before being sent to Tongliao City Detention Center around 3:00 a.m. the next day.
Since Ms. Zhang was unable to sleep well, the detention center guards forcibly took her to have an examination in the hospital and charged her 300 yuan.
She was forced to sit still for two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening every day. There was only cold water to use throughout the year, from drinking water to bath water. She was given two meals each day. Cornmeal buns plus pickles or light vegetable soups were provided to her in most of the meals.
Sentence and Solitary Confinement
In March 2017, Ms. Zhang was indicted and charged with using her cell phone to urge people to quit the CCP. Her defense lawyer entered a not guilty plea for her, as it was her constitutional right to make phone calls. The presiding judge sentenced her to two years in prison.
Ms. Zhang was taken to Hohhot Women's Prison on March 15, 2017. She was found to have liver problems during the required physical exam for prison admission, but she was still ordered to do physical labor. She refused.
On the fourth day, a guard asked her if she would renounce Falun Gong, and she said no. She was then placed in solitary confinement, where she remained until her release.
