The Facts of the Persecution of Falun Gong -- September 18, 2008

Issued by Clearwisdom Net

Content


  • Wei Haiming and His Wife Zhao Zonghua Sentenced to 5 Years in Prison in Secret Trial
    • This couple has experienced increasing persecution over a period of years.

    Wei Haiming and His Wife Zhao Zonghua Sentenced to 5 Years in Prison in Secret Trial

    In July 2008, officials at the Datong County Court in Xining City, Qinghai Province sentenced Falun Gong practitioners Mr. Wei Haiming and his wife Ms. Zhao Zonghua to five years in prison without a public trial. They are now incarcerated at the Menyuan Prison in Qinghai Province.

    Wei Haiming and Zhao Zonghua are residents of the Chengbei District in Xining City, Qinghai Province. Datong County policemen arrested them on December 15, 2007. They have been imprisoned ever since, and have suffered brutal tortures. On April 16, 2008, Datong County Court officials held a trial, but came to no verdict. In July 2008 the same court held another trial, privately. This time the couple was sentenced to five years in prison.

    Datong Court officials were afraid of letting the public know of the trial. The court did not inform their families, nor the defense lawyers the families had hired before the trial. The lawyers told the families afterwards, "Datong Court officials did not follow official legal procedures."

    Wei Haiming and Zhao Zonghua's families asked why they were not informed of the trial ahead of time. The court officials replied sarcastically, "Why did we need to?"

    Zhao Zonghua is a retired teacher from Chaoyang Elementary School. She had won several "model teacher" awards, and her students and their parents loved her. Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) regime officials' pressure compelled her to give up teaching. Her salary was lowered, and she was demoted to cleaning toilets. Since February 2008, the school simply stopped paying her salary.

    Wei Haiming was a private business owner and has a good reputation in the construction field. In 2003, Xining City Police Department officials and National Security Bureau thugs forced him to shut down his business. At the same time, the policemen also took Mr. Wei's car, laptop, debit card, cash, and other valuables.