(Minghui.org) A former teacher in Taicang City was sentenced to prison again for refusing to renounce Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline being persecuted by the Chinese communist regime.
Mr. Shi Zehui, a former teacher at the local Jianxiong College, was arrested in late January 2017 and appeared in court on October 12. His wife, Ms. Qin Yanqiu, a former postal worker, was arrested on October 1, 2017.
It was learned recently that Mr. Shi was sentenced to prison for 3.5 years. He has appealed his sentence. His wife has not yet been sentenced.
This is not the first time that the couple has been targeted for their faith. They both lost their jobs and have been arrested numerous times. Prior to his latest arrest, Mr. Shi was sent to a forced labor camp once and sentenced to prison twice, for a total of 8.5 years. Ms. Qin was sent to a forced labor camp for a year and 3 months on January 4, 2001, and sentenced to 4 years in prison in 2005.
Mr. Shi’s latest arrest took place in Rudong County, where he went to visit an elderly Falun Gong practitioner. His wife went to Rudong many times to request his release, but she was never given a chance to see her husband.
Mr. Shi developed liver cancer while imprisoned in 2014, and his wife submitted his medical records to the police following his latest arrest. Ms. Qin said she was worried that, if her husband was not allowed to do the Falun Gong exercises, his old symptoms would return. An officer surnamed Chen claimed that a required medical examination indicated Mr. Shi was totally healthy.
The Rudong 610 Office, an extra-legal agency tasked with eradicating Falun Gong and given the power to override the judicial system, instructed its counterpart in Taicang City to threaten to arrest Mr. Shi’s wife should she continue to seek her husband’s release.
Ms. Qin wasn’t deterred, and she was arrested about nine months after her husband.
Parties Responsible for Persecuting Ms. Qin and Mr. Shi:
Rudong Domestic Security Office Head Xu Jianhua: +86-513-84155352, +86-13921692488Rudong 610 Office Head Qian Feng: +86-13906271246
Related Report:
The Persecution Endured by Ms. Qin Yanqiu and Her Husband in Taicang City, Jiangsu Province
