(Minghui.org) A Dancheng County resident died on July 19, 2016, two years after she was sentenced to 7 years in prison for refusing to renounce Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline being persecuted by the Chinese communist regime.

Ms. Lu Xiurong was seized from her home around 5:00 a.m. on April 20, 2014. The 68-year-old woman had been repeatedly targeted for her faith in Falun Gong since the persecution began in 1999. Her arrest followed months of monitoring by police, who were tipped off that 16 other Falun Gong practitioners were to gather at her home that morning.

Ms. Lu

Ms. Lu developed health issues while being held at Zhoukou City Detention Center. Unfit to stand trial, she was still forced to appear in court and sentenced to 7 years in prison.

She never got transferred to prison though, as her symptoms worsened and she had to be hospitalized.

As Ms. Lu’s health required ongoing treatment, the court agreed to temporarily release her after she was discharged from the hospital. They, however, kept sending agents to harass her at home and threatened to take her to prison as soon as she recovered.

The pressure aggravated Ms. Lu’s condition, and she passed away in July of this year.