(Minghui.org) It was learned in late May 2024 that a 63-year-old resident of Jilin City, Jilin 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. Lei Xiuxiang’s sentencing stemmed from her arrest on March 31, 2023. A deputy chief and four officers from the Dachangtun Police Station broke into her home after 7 p.m. that day and confiscated her Falun Gong books, a portrait of Falun Gong’s founder, a printer, and other valuables. They took her to the Jilin City Detention Centre. It is unclear when she was indicted, tried, or sentenced, but it is known that she has been transferred to the Jilin Province Women’s Prison following her wrongful conviction.
This is not the first time that Ms. Lei has been targeted for her faith, which she credits for turning her into a happier and healthier person. She used to be headstrong and had trouble getting along with her husband and mother-in-law. She was also plagued with various illnesses. Twice she contemplated suicide but stopped at the last minute because of her small children. A chance encounter with Falun Gong in 1998 changed her fate. She regained her health soon afterward and began to enjoy a harmonious family.
Her happy life, however, was soon shattered after the persecution of Falun Gong began in 1999. Simply for following Falun Gong’s principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance to be a good person, she was arrested many times, resulting in three forced labor terms and a prior five-year prison sentence.
Three Forced Labor Terms Totaling 4.5 Years Between 2006 and 2013
Ms. Lei spent a total of four and a half years serving three terms in the same Heizuizi Women’s Labor Camp between 2006 and 2013. She was subjected to various forms of torture during all three labor camp terms, including forced feedings, injection of toxic drugs, electric shocks, and extreme stretching.
As she refused to renounce her belief in Falun Gong, she was once force-fed and drugged for 30 days straight. Another time she was restrained to a bed in a spread-eagle position and suffered excruciating pain.
Sentenced to 5 Years Following Arrest in 2015
Ms. Lei completed her third labor camp term on January 7, 2013, only to be arrested again on July 9, 2015, and sentenced to five years. She was brutally tortured during her entire five-year imprisonment. She was once forced to sit on a “small stool” for long hours every day for nine months.
Between February 21 and 25, 2019, inmate Wang Kuo tortured Ms. Lei by pushing her head into a water bucket or pouring a bucket of water on her, knowing that she didn’t have clothes to change into. Wang later received a term reduction of nine months, the longest one-time reduction.
In July and August 2019, the prison launched another campaign to force practitioners to renounce their faith. Ms. Lei was forced to sit on a small stool that was only 6 inches high and had a sitting area of 7 by 9 inches. She was ordered to keep her body straight and maintain a 90-degree angle between her upper body and legs. The inmates put a piece of paper between her legs and forced her to keep her legs together. If the paper fell, the inmates would pinch or verbally abuse her.
The inmates later forced Ms. Lei to stand 15 to 16 hours a day and didn’t allow her to buy extra food or take showers.
Ms. Lei was released on January 23, 2021, only to be arrested again on March 31, 2024, and given a second five-year term.
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