(Minghui.org) A Yingcheng City, Hubei Province, resident's motion to reconsider his prison term for practicing Falun Gong was recently accepted for review by Xiaogang Intermediate Court. The same court had upheld his four-and-a-half-year sentence without a hearing in December 2018.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual tradition that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Mr. Xiong Jiwei, a 48-year-old pediatrician, was arrested at work on November 7, 2017. The police targeted him and two other practitioners after suspecting them of putting up banners with Falun Gong messages along a major highway in Hubei Province.
All three practitioners—Mr. Xiong Jiwei, Mr. Xiong Wenzhi (no relation to Mr. Xiong Jiwei), and Mr. Wang Gangqiang—appeared in Anlu City Court on September 19, 2018.
Nine days later, the judge sentenced Mr. Xiong Jiwei to four and a half years in prison with a 5,000-yuan fine and the other two practitioners to two years in prison with a 3,000 yuan fine. All of them were later taken to Fanjiatai Prison in Hubei Province.
Mr. Xiong Jiwei appealed his verdict to the Xiaogan Intermediate Court, which upheld his sentence without a hearing on December 5, 2018.
His lawyer filed a motion with the intermediate court on April 10, 2019 to reconsider his case. It was recently accepted for review.
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Medical Doctor: Suing Jiang Zemin for Repeated Incarceration, Torture, and Job Loss
Cruelties Committed in Fanjiatai Prison in Shayang City, Hubei Province
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Persecution Crimes in Fanjiatai Prison
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