(Minghui.org) Mr. Xu Changhong was sent to a forced labor camp for one year, imprisoned for three years, and detained over ten times–all for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline being persecuted by the communist regime.
On April 1, 2016, Mr. Xu was again tried and sentenced to three years in prison by Xianan District Court in Xianning City.
The trial lasted less than 40 minutes, and only one member of the defendant's family was allowed to attend. Access to the courthouse was blocked by five police cars and over thirty officers.
Wife Intercepted, Detained
Mr. Xu's wife, Su Xiaolian, received a phone call from Judge Lin Shaokun the day before the trial, notifying her that the trial would begin at 8:30am.
On her way to the courthouse the next morning, she was intercepted by domestic security officers, whose commander told her that she could not go to the courthouse, by order of the police department. She was then taken to Shanhaoqiao Police Station, searched, and detained. She was released at around 10:00 am, after the trial was over.
Five of Mr. Xu's relatives went to the courthouse the next day, but the only one allowed in was his illiterate sister. His brother was stopped at the gate of the courthouse and escorted back to his home.
