(Minghui.org) It was recently confirmed by Minghui.org that a veteran in Xuchang City, Henan Province was sentenced to two and half years in late 2019 for practicing Falun Gong, an ancient spiritual and meditation discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Mr. Pang Yonggang, 46, took up Falun Gong in Beijing, where he worked after retiring from the military. After the communist regime ordered the persecution in 1999, he went to Tiananmen Square to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong, only to be arrested, taken back to his hometown in Xuchang, and detained for three months. His newly married wife was under tremendous pressure during his detention.
Mr. Pang filed a criminal complaint against Jiang Zemin, the former head of the communist regime who ordered the persecution of Falun Gong, in 2015. He was harassed by police several times afterwards.
Mr. Pang was arrested again in the winter of 2018 after being reported for talking to people about Falun Gong. He was held at Xuchang City Detention Center for two weeks.
After Xuchang authorities started a new round of campaigns targeting Falun Gong practitioners in April 2019, and Mr. Pang was arrested a month later by a group of officers who had been waiting outside his apartment building. The moment he stepped inside his apartment, the officers broke in and ransacked his home.
He was tried by the Weidu District Court in October 2019 at the Xuchang City Detention Center, where he has been held since his arrest. The court appointed a lawyer to represent him and instructed the lawyer to enter a guilty plea for him. Mr. Pang testified in his own defense and denied all the charges. The judge sentenced him to 2.5 years in late 2019.
As the prison refused to accept him due to the coronavirus pandemic, he is still detained at the Xuchang City Detention Center at the time of writing.
