(Minghui.org) It was learned in early February 2024 that a 62-year-old resident of Qingzhou City, Shandong Province had been sentenced to five years for her faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Ms. Nan Zhenxin’s sentencing stemmed from her arrest on March 10, 2022. The arresting officers from the Qingzhou City Domestic Security Office released her on bail one day later, but took her back into custody in 2023. It is unclear when she was indicted, tried, or sentenced. Her family only learned that she was transferred to the Shandong Province Women’s Prison from the Weifang City Detention Center after her wrongful conviction.
This is not the first time that Ms. Nan has been targeted for her faith. Her husband, Mr. Yuan Hexun, and their daughter were also repeatedly persecuted for practicing Falun Gong. Following an arrest in 2002, Mr. Yuan was sentenced to eight years and Ms. Nan three years. Their then 12-year-old daughter was held in a brainwashing center for one month.
Earliest Persecution
Mr. Yuan was arrested by the Qingzhou City Domestic Security Office and the Yunhe Police Station in September 2000 and detained for half a month. Ms. Nan went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong, with her daughter in tow, at an unknown date around 2000. She was arrested in Beijing and escorted back to Qingzhou, where she was held for two weeks.
Ms. Nan and nine other practitioners were arrested in early 2001 while having a gathering. The arresting officers from the Qingzhou City Domestic Security Office and the Chezhan Police Station seized the 1,500 yuan in cash that Ms. Nan had with her and took her to a brainwashing center, where she was held for an unknown amount of time.
The Qingzhou City 610 Office agents arrested Mr. Yuan in the spring of 2001 and took him to the Chezhan Police Station. They also confiscated the 1,500 yuan in cash that he had with him. He was later moved to a brainwashing center and held for an unknown amount of time.
Family of Three Arrested in 2002 – Both Parents Sentenced and 12-Year-Old Daughter Detained for One Month
In order to avoid further persecution, Mr. Yuan and Ms. Nan left their home in Qingzhou and settled in Weifang City (which oversees Qingzhou administratively) a few months later.
The couple and their then 12-year-old daughter were arrested in October 2002 and taken to the Xiguan Police Station in Weifang City. The young girl was handcuffed and forced to sit on the cement floor for a whole night.
Office Li Chaomei escorted the family of three back to Qingzhou. During the trip, Li beat Mr. Yuan in front of his wife and daughter, and tightened his handcuffs on purpose to cause excruciating pain. Ms. Nan tried to stop Li and the latter threatened to beat her and her daughter.
After arriving in Qingzhou, Li took Mr. Yuan and Ms. Nan to the Qingzhou Detention Center and their pre-teen daughter to a brainwashing center. During the young girl’s one-month detention, Liu Rongyou and others screamed into her ears and ordered her to renounce Falun Gong. Her relatives were forced to pay more than 1,000 yuan before she was released in November 2002. She had to hop from one relative’s home to another as her parents were still detained.
Mr. Yuan was forced to do hard labor for 16-20 hours every day without pay during his nine months’ detention at the Qingzhou City Detention Center. He was often beaten and given meager amounts of food. He was later sentenced to eight years and admitted to the Shandong Province Prison in 2003. The prison guards abused him in various ways. He was once forced to wear a strait jacket. Another time he was forced to sit on a small stool for 16 hours every day for 23 straight days. His buttocks festered as a result. He was later released ahead of time, at least two years before his term was up.
Torture instrument: small stool
Ms. Nan was also convicted and given three years. It was unclear where she served the time.
Arrested Again in 2008 and Wife Given Forced Labor
In July 2008, one month before the Beijing Summer Olympics, Zhou Yongkang, then a member of the 17th Politburo Standing Committee (China’s highest decision-making body) and the Secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Committee, visited Weifang City and issued an order to arrest local Falun Gong practitioners.
Ms. Nan was arrested shortly after she stepped outside one day in July 2008. The Qingzhou City Domestic Security Office agents snatched her key and opened her door to raid her home. They arrested her and her husband, and confiscated the couple’s computer, printer, cell phones and other valuables.
The couple were taken to the Qingzhou City Detention Center, where Ms. Nan was shackled for nearly twenty days. One month later she was given forced labor (term unknown) but denied admission to the local labor camp due to her high blood pressure. Mr. Yuan was transferred to a brainwashing center and held for another two months. In March 2009, during the communist regime’s two annual political meetings, he was arrested again and held at a brainwashing center for two weeks.
Arrested in 2012, Husband Given One Year of Forced Labor
Ms. Nan was arrested again in April 2012, but was released on house arrest after the local detention center denied her admission due to her high blood pressure.
Mr. Yuan was arrested at work on April 25, 2012. The Qingzhou City Domestic Security Office and the Chengli Police Station snatched his key and raided his home. They confiscated his computer, cell phone and 800 yuan in cash. He was taken to the Qingzhou City Detention Center the next day and given one year of forced labor one month later.
The labor camp guards forced Mr. Yuan to work for more than 10 hours every day for several straight months. They often hit him in the head and forced him to stand or sit on a small stool for long hours. From time to time, they did not allow him to sleep, shower, or use the restroom.
Wife Arrested in 2013 and Tortured to the Verge of Death in Brainwashing Center
The Qingzhou City Domestic Security Office and the Chengli Police Station arrested Ms. Nan again in September 2013, but the Weifang City Detention Center declined to admit her. She was arrested again in 2014 and taken to a brainwashing center, where she was tortured to the verge of death.
The same Liu Rongyou at the brainwashing center who once abused Ms. Nan’s daughter back in 2002 tortured her too. For ten straight days, he did not allow her to sleep. She became disoriented as a result. Liu and others then used their palms to hit her in the head. They also pinched and groped her all over her body, especially the sensitive parts.
After more than one month of torture, Ms. Nan’s face became extremely swollen and she lost consciousness one day. Only then was she carried home. She did not regain consciousness until the next day. Her family had a doctor come to their home to examine her and the doctor couldn’t believe the communist regime officials had tortured her to the verge of death.
Ms. Nan’s family took her to the Maternal and Child Health Hospital the next day after she came to. A doctor there was startled when he lifted her clothes to examine her swollen and ulcerated abdomen. He consulted another doctor and both said their hospital was incapable of treating her severe condition. They referred her to the Qingzhou City People’s Hospital, which demanded a deposit of 10,000 yuan before she could be admitted.
Ms. Nan had long been fired for her faith and struggled to make ends meet, much less pay the deposit. She decided not to check into the Qingzhou City People’s Hospital. Her family then found a doctor of Chinese Medicine, who prescribed some herbal medicine and ointments to treat the swelling and ulcers on her abdomen. There are still two visible marks on her abdomen to this day.
Mother-in-law Dies Five Days After Police Raid
The Qingzhou City Domestic Security Office agents showed up at Ms. Nan’s door on January 23, 2014. She refused to open the door and the police pried it open. They raided her home, terrifying her mother-in-law, who had been recuperating from an illness at her home. The older woman died five days later.
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