Retired Nurse Ms. Zhang Feng'e, 55, from Zhongwei City Sentenced

Name: Zhang Feng'e
Gender: Female
Age: 55
Address: Zhongwei City
Occupation: Nurse
Date of Most Recent Arrest: September 28th, 2011
Most Recent Place of Detention: Yinchuan Women's Prison
City: Yinchuan
Province: Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region
Persecution Suffered: Imprisonment

Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Zhang Feng'e from Zhongwei City was sentenced in May 2012 to three years and six months in prison, and is held at the Yinchuan Women's Prison in Ningxia.

Ms. Zhang, 55, is a retired head nurse who worked at the Zhongwei City People's Hospital. Around noon on September 28th, 2011, the Zhongwei City Domestic Security Team captain Li Jinjun and instructor Li Cunshan together with Li Zhanhong, Liu Junxia, and other officers went to Ms. Zhang's home. When Ms. Zhang refused to open the door, the police picked the lock, broke into her home and arrested her. Li Jinjun and others later returned to Ms. Zhang's home and confiscated two mobile phones, Falun Gong books, and other personal belongings.

On November 2nd, 2011, the Shapotou Branch of the Zhongwei City Police Department charged Ms. Zhang with “undermining law enforcement” and detained her in the Zhongwei City Detention Centre.

More than nine months later on May 25th, 2012, the Zhongwei Shapotou Procurator charged Ms. Zhang with “using a mobile phone to send out a large amount of messages about Falun Gong and publicising its ideology.” The Shapotou District Court then sentenced Ms. Zhang to three years and six months in prison. Ms. Zhang appealed to the Zhongwei City Intermediate Court. On July 19th, the Zhongwei City Intermediate Court upheld the original sentencing.

On August 1st, while the case still in the appeals stage, police from the Zhongwei City Domestic Security Team took Ms. Zhang to the Yinchuan Women's Prison. It is reported that Ms. Zhang had an unhealed broken arm while being held in the Zhongwei City Detention Centre, and that the prison refused to accept Ms. Zhang due to her physical condition. The police then took her back to the Zhongwei City Detention Centre. On August 13th, they again took her to the Yinchuan Women's Prison.

The communist regime has persecuted Ms. Zhang numerous times for practising Falun Gong. In September 2001, the Ningxia Wuzhong City Forced Labour Board of Management trumped up a charge of “disturbing social order” and sentenced her to two years and six months of forced labour. On March 15th, 2009, the Zhongwei City Domestic Security Team charged her with “undermining law enforcement” and detained her for more than a month before releasing her on bail pending trial. This time the Shapotou District Court sentenced her to three years and six months in prison.

The Shapotou District Court is cooperating with the local 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong), the police department and Procuratorate to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. In March of this year, Zhongwei City practitioner Mr. Sun Jianfeng was arrested and the above Zhongwei organisations conspired to persecute him. The Shapotou District Court had originally scheduled to open a court session on August 10th, but when Mr. Sun's family hired a righteous attorney to represent him, the court postponed the court date. There is still no court date set.