Once Jailed for 3 Years, 82-Year-Old Woman Faces Prosecution for Practicing Falun Gong

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July 16, 2024 | By a Minghui correspondent in Henan Province, China

(Minghui.org) An 82-year-old woman in Zhoukou City, Henan Province is facing prosecution for raising awareness about the persecution of her faith, Falun Gong, a mind-body discipline that has been targeted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Ms. Gu Xuemin was arrested on April 12, 2024, after being reported for talking to people about Falun Gong, while on her way to visit a relative in the Huaiyang District in Zhoukou. Officers from the Huaiyang District Domestic Security Division ransacked her home, confiscated her two Falun Gong books and a media player. Due to her high blood pressure, the local detention center refused to admit her and she was released on bail the next morning. The Huaiyang District Domestic Security Division recently submitted her case to the local procuratorate.

Ms. Gu took up Falun Gong in May 1996. Her many ailments, including frequent headaches, frozen shoulder and bone hyperplasia in her neck, lower back and knees soon disappeared.

Because she continued practicing Falun Gong after the persecution started in 1999, she was repeatedly arrested and harassed. The Chuanhui District Court sentenced her to three years with four years probation in March 2006. But Yu Yiyun, the head of Zhoukou City 610 Office, complained to the court for giving her a light sentence. Due to the pressure, the judge re-sentenced her to three years and she was taken to the Xinxiang Women’s Prison to serve time.

Ms. Gu’s husband, Mr. Zhao, who used to be the deputy director of Zhoukou City Religious Affairs Bureau, also practiced Falun Gong before the persecution started and experienced health improvement as a result. But because of his past experience witnessing the communist regime’s brutal political campaigns, he stopped practicing after Ms. Gu’s first arrest in 2000. He feared being arrested and constantly worried whether he was being monitored by the police. Not long after that, his old illnesses relapsed and he also developed other conditions, eventually becoming incapacitated. Ms. Gu’s prison sentence in 2006 dealt him another heavy blow. He lost his appetite and often cried. Yet the authorities still harassed and intimidated him from time to time. When Ms. Gu was released from prison, he was already in a vegetative state. He passed away years later.