(Minghui.org) A man from Anyang City, Henan Province, was sentenced to three years in prison for his faith in Falun Gong. Mr. Wei Yuexing was admitted to Xinmi Prison after the intermediate court turned down his appeal.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is an ancient spiritual and meditation discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Mr. Wei Yuexing, 60, used to be a salesman for a pharmaceutical company. He had a persistent stomach condition that was cured after he started to practice Falun Gong. He lives by the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance and is known for his devotion to his parents.
His father suffered a stroke and became a vegetable years ago. Mr. Wei took meticulous care of him, cleaning him, turning him over in bed, removing the mucus from his tracheostomy tube, and changing his diapers. He cared for his father for over four years until he passed away. Despite the fact that he’d been bedridden for so long, his father never had one bedsore.
Mr. Wei’s mother, nearly 90, was diagnosed with rectal cancer. She couldn’t walk after an operation and relied on Mr. Wei to take care of her before his arrest.
On December 24, 2019, after talking to people about Falun Gong at a bus station, Mr. Wei was reported to the police and arrested. The police ransacked his home that evening.
The Wenfeng District Procuratorate approved his arrest on January 17, 2020. A bag of Falun Gong keepsakes that he distributed was listed as evidence to charge him.
The Wenfeng District Court initially arranged a video hearing at the procuratorate on May 30, 2020. While all the other cases scheduled for that day were heard without a hitch, when it was time for Mr. Wei to take the stand, the court informed his lawyer that their recording devices were broken and the hearing was canceled.
A few days later, the court summoned Mr. Wei’s family and asked why they’d hired a lawyer from Beijing. They demanded that the lawyer register with the Anyang justice bureau and also attempted to force Mr. Wei’s family to dismiss the lawyer. Days later, the lawyer was pressured by his local justice bureau and 610 Office, an extralegal agency created to persecute Falun Gong.
On July 13, 2020, Mr. Wei’s hearing was held in the Anyang City Detention Center, where he was detained after his arrest. His Beijing lawyer wasn’t able to attend. A local lawyer entered a not guilty plea, and Mr. Wei also testified in his own defense.
The prosecutor counted each sheet of paper as one piece of evidence in order to meet the 1,000 copies requirement of a longer prison term.
The judge sentenced Mr. Wei to three years in prison and fined him 5,000 yuan. Mr. Wei appealed the verdict right after the trial. After the intermediate court ruled to uphold his original term, he was taken to Xinmi Prison in mid-October.
