(Minghui.org) A Yinan County resident was sentenced to 4.5 years on January 10, 2019 by the Yinan Court for his faith in Falun Gong. He has started to serve time at Jinan Prison. His family have yet to receive any court documents regarding the verdict.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline guided by the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. The practice has been persecuted by the communist regime since 1999.
As early as October 2018, Mr. Du Yihe's family had heard rumors from an acquaintance with government connections that the authorities had decided to sentence him to four years in prison. This was one month before his secret hearing inside the makeshift courtroom at the Yinan Detention Center on November 24, 2018.
Mr. Du, 56, a father of three sons, was arrested on May 28, 2018, shortly before the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit held in Qingdao City, Shandong Province on June 9-10, 2018. It was reported that the police arrested him to prevent him from leaving home to work in another city.
Mr. Du was denied family visits at the Yinan County Detention Center. When his family went there to request his release, a guard told them, “Mr. Du likes it in there and doesn't want to leave.”
Related report:
Prison Sentence Reportedly Set One Month Before Secret Trial of Falun Gong Practitioner
