(Minghui.org) Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Yang Wanming, 57, of Hulunber City, Inner Mongolia was released on December 14, 2013, after three years of being persecuted in the No. 5 Ward of Baoanzhao Prison.

Mr. Yang, a former Lieutenant Colonel in the military, was arrested on March 15, 2009 and illegally sentenced to seven years in prison.

Arrested for Being a Key Practitioner on a Watch List

In March 2009, documents exposing the Hulunber City Political and Legal Affairs Committee's involvement in the persecution of Falun Gong were publicized overseas. In response, the Hulunber City Bureau of Public Security began to monitor communications and trace computers installed with software to break through the Chinese Internet blockade.

Being a key practitioner on the 610 Office watch list, Mr. Yang came under surveillance. He was arrested in his office on the morning of March 15, 2009. His office and house were ransacked and cash, a bank deposit card, computer, digital camera and other items were confiscated. He was detained in the Hailar Detention Center after the arrest.

Defense by Lawyer Forbidden

Mr. Yang was first secretly tried by the Hulunber City Intermediate Court and Hulunber City Procuratorate in August 2009. He was sentenced to ten years in prison and fined 50,000 yuan for “leaking state secrets and disrupting the implementation of law.”

Existing Chinese Criminal Law provides a defendant with the right to hire a lawyer. In the second trial, Mr. Yang's family hired an attorney to defend him; however, the court and the procuratorate did not allow the attorney to defend Mr. Yang. Additionally, presiding judge Xu Zhi prevented Mr. Yang from defending himself. The Hulunber Intermediate Court upheld the original sentence.

Mr. Yang's family appealed to the Inner Mongolia Autonomous District High Court, which reduced the term to seven years in prison.

He was transferred to the No. 5 Ward of Baoanzhao Prison on September 17, 2010, eighteen months after being detained in Hailar District Detention Center. In Baoanzhao Prison, he was brutally persecuted for practicing Falun Gong by a “transformation” team, which consisted of education chief Guo Ming, deputy education chief Wang Zhijie, and party secretary Yang Xuewen.

Employer and Family Implicated

The Chinese Communist Party's “guilt by association” implication policy affected Mr. Yang's place of work, family and relatives.

After his arrest, the CCP put pressure on the Hailar Mobile Communication Service Company. They even went as far as removing the president and several managers from their positions and demoting some managers. The Bureau of Public Security took over Mr. Yang's office to monitor employees.

Mr. Yang's family and relatives were also implicated. They were intimidated with illegal body searches and restrictions of their personal freedom. They were vilified and slandered. His son was often harassed while in college in Beijing and his job assignment after graduation was also affected.

Earlier report: Mr. Yang Wanming Sentenced to Seven Years in Prison for Exposing the Persecution