Ms. Gong Yuxiu was sentenced to prison again after ten years on the run to avoid serving a 2005 sentence for refusing to renounce her faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline being persecuted by the Chinese communist regime.
The 62-year-old from Taihe County, Jiangxi Province was first arrested in late 2004. Six months later, the local court sentenced her to 7 years in prison without a proper trial.
She went on a hunger strike to protest the detention but was brutally force-fed. The guards knocked out two of her teeth as they tried to pry her mouth open. Her health quickly deteriorated due to the hunger strike and the guards’ abuse of her.
Ms. Gong managed to escape while being treated in a local hospital. The police plastered her photo everywhere and broadcast a “wanted” notice on prime time TV, offering a 10,000 yuan1 reward to tipsters.
Ms. Gong spent the next 10 years wandering from one place to another, only to be captured again on January 27th, 2015. She was recently given 7.5 years and has been transferred to Jiangxi Province Women’s Prison.
Note
1. “Yuan” is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.
(Clearharmony)
