Five Tongcheng County Falun Gong Practitioners Sentenced

(Minghui.org) Five residents of Tongcheng County, Hubei Province, were recently sentenced for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual practice being persecuted by the Chinese communist regime. They have all appealed their verdicts.

Mr. Hu Baori, Ms. Hu Guanxia (no relation), and Ms. Li Yanhe were each sentenced to four years in prison; Ms. Wang Ximei was sentenced to two years; and Mr. Ai Lianfang, to one year.

They were arrested on July 7 this year for distributing Falun Gong informational literature. The two men are being held in the Yueyang Detention Center, and the three women in the Yunxi Detention Center in Yueyang City. All of them were denied family visits.

The latest arrest was not the first for Mr. Hu, Ms. Li, or Ms. Hu, who were all arrested at one time or another in the past. Whether Ms. Wang or Mr. Ai have ever been arrested before remains to be investigated.

Mr. Hu Baori

Mr. Hu Baori, 66, a shop owner, was detained twice and had his home ransacked. He was detained for 15 days in 2001 and 10 days in 2007. His business suffered in his absence. He was forced to do manual labor and pay for his food expenses.

Ms. Li Yanhe

Ms. Li Yanhe, 52, was arrested in May 2012 for talking about the persecution of Falun Gong. She was detained for two weeks and forced to pay 2,100 yuan for her food.

Ms. Hu Guanxia

Ms. Hu Guanxia, 36 was arrested in 2001 for appealing for Falun Gong in Beijing. She was shocked with electric batons on her face and back, and almost passed out. She was force-fed an unknown solution that induced bloody vomiting. She was escorted home and held in Tongcheng County Drug Rehabilitation Center for more than four months. She was tortured on the death bed and made to wear shackles. She then endured one year of forced labor.

Her husband Mr. Wu Zhimin, also a practitioner, was taken to Tongcheng County Detention Center before their baby was born. They were fined 3,000 yuan and had their cell phone and motorbike confiscated, for a direct financial loss of over 10,000 yuan.

Partial list of parties involved in persecuting the five practitioners:

Yang Shuiping (杨水平), director of Yueyang County Court: [phone]Zhou Walngxing (周旺兴), case officer of Yueyang County Court: [phone]Duan Deping (段德平), attorney of Yueyang County Procuratorate: [phone] (cell), [phone] (office)Guo Shengqiang (郭胜强), director of Yueyang County 610 Office: 86-13907403138 (cell), [phone] (office), [phone] (office)

Related Report:Families of Practitioners Deprived of Visitation Rights