Two Women Sentenced for Talking about Falun Gong on a Bus

Two Jiangxi Province residents in their 60s were sentenced to prison on February 24, 2022 for talking to people on a bus about Falun Gong.

Ms. Lai Huanping, 67, was sentenced to three and a half years. Due to a health condition, Lai is now serving time at home and is not allowed to go out. Ms. Wu Zhiping, 68, was given three years and one month at Nanchang Women’s Prison.

Wu is a retired steel factory worker from Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province. Due to her faith, she was forced to live away from her home due to repeated harassment from officials since April 2021. Her pension was also suspended and her former employer, Nanchang Steel Factory, gave her only 1,000 yuan (or approximately $157 USD) per month to cover her basic living expenses. 

After moving to Pingxiang City, about 160 miles from Nanchang, police arrested Ms. Wu in late September 2021 for talking to people about Falun Gong on a bus. Ms. Lai, a retired employee of Pingxiang Maternal and Children Health Hospital who went with Ms. Wu to raise awareness about the persecution, was also arrested.

The police first took both elderly women to the Bayi Police Station and then transferred them to the local detention center. After three months of incarceration, Ms. Lai developed a medical condition and was released on bail due to her family’s resolute demand. The police ordered her family to monitor her daily and keep her from going out.

The Luxi County Court tried both women on February 24, 2022. They testified in their own defense, but the presiding judge interrupted the two women, saying, “This isn’t the place for you to talk about this.”

The judge then announced guilty verdicts against the two practitioners. 

This is the third time that Ms. Wu has been sentenced. She was previously incarcerated for 3 years following her arrest for distributing Falun Gong materials on October 18, 2008 and another 3.5 years after she was arrested in June of 2015.

Based on an original report by Minghui.org.