Two Falun Gong Practitioners in Xuchang Thrown into Prison a Second Time

Ms. Zhang Ronghuan and Ms. Li Shuhua, Falun Gong practitioners in Xuchang, Henan Province, have been sentenced to four years in prison and thrown into Xinxiang Women's Prison. This is the second time that these two practitioners have been unjustly incarcerated.

Persecution of Ms. Zhang Ronghuan

Ms. Zhang Ronghuan, 66, is a retired doctor. She was sentenced to four years in prison by the Xuchang City Weidu District Court on December 11th, 2013. She appealed the verdict to the Xuchang City Court. The court refused to hold a new trial but still upheld the original verdict.

Ms. Zhang was arrested for giving a man a Shen Yun Performing Arts ¹ DVD near the Municipal People's Hospital on April 1st, 2013. More than ten employees from the Xuchang City 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong), the Domestic Security Division of the city police department, and the Beida Police Station broke into Ms. Zhang's home at around 7 p.m. on the same day, searched her home, and confiscated her Falun Gong books and Falun Gong leaflets exposing the persecution. Ms. Zhang was held in the Xuchang City Detention Centre before she was taken to prison.

Ms. Zhang had previously been imprisoned in Xinxiang Women's Prison for three years in 2006. The prison authorities subjected her several times to solitary confinement, and she has also been injected with unknown drugs. She resisted the abuse and cried out, “Falun Gong is good!”

When guards Tong Guorong, Zhang and Wu Xiuxia tortured Ms. Zhang with solitary confinement, she was handcuffed to a metal door, her mouth stuffed with a cloth. She was tortured like this 28 times within a span of 2 months. She lost consciousness seven times.

Associate Director of the prison, Hou Meili, along with jailers and inmates, handcuffed Ms. Zhang to a chair, and then covered her mouth and nose until she lost consciousness.

Persecution of Ms. Li Shuhua

Ms. Li Shuhua, 53, is also a retiree. She was reported to the police for talking to people about Falun Gong on the street on May 4th, 2013. The police arrested her and threw her into the Xuchang City Detention Centre. The Weidu District Court held a trial without notifying her family and sentenced her to 4 years in prison.

Ms. Li had been held in Xinxiang Women's Prison for 3 years in July 2009, for distributing Shen Yun Performing Arts DVD's. She was tortured in the prison and held in solitary confinement many times. By the time she was released, she weighed only 78 pounds.

Note

1. Shen Yun Performing Arts is a New York based company showing traditional Chinese culture through classical dance and music. Some dance pieces in the show depict the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China and how they show their compassion under extreme conditions.