(Minghui.org) A Qingdao City, Shandong Province, resident was sentenced to 2.5 years and fined 10,000 yuan for his faith in Falun Gong on July 30, 2020. Mr. Cui Yongqiang's sentencing followed his latest arrest on September 29, 2019.

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.

The police had attempted to arrest Mr. Cui when the Shanghai Cooperation Organization was held in Qingdao in June 2018. As he was working out of town when the police came, they broke into and ransacked his residence, and impounded his minivan. The officers also changed the lock on the front door and left a notice, demanding Mr. Cui report to the local police station when he came back. He went into hiding after seeing the police note.

The police found Mr. Cui by tracking his cellphone and arrested him at his rental place around 5 a.m. on September 29, 2019. Four officers ransacked his place without a search warrant. His 21,000 yuan in cash and other belongings were confiscated. No confiscation list was ever provided to him. Mr. Cui was then interrogated and sent to the Pudong Detention Center in Qingdao on the second day of his arrest.

The Huangdao District Procuratorate approved Mr. Cui’s arrest on November 6, 2019. The police submitted his case on January 6, 2020. The prosecutor indicted him on March 31 and forwarded his case to the Huangdao District Court. 

Mr. Cui was tried through teleconference on May 26. His lawyer entered a not guilty plea for him and argued that his practicing Falun Gong was merely exercising his constitutional right to freedom of belief and was in no way “undermining law enforcement,” a standard pretext used by the Chinese courts to sentence Falun Gong practitioners. 

Judge Luan Chong presided over the hearing, and judge Wang Decheng went to the Pudong Detention Center on July 30 to announce the verdict against Mr. Cui. 

Judge Wang also wrongfully convicted two more practitioners on the same day, including sentencing Ms. Liu Rulan, 71, to three years and Ms. Zhao Renxia, 50, to seven years.