(Minghui.org) After over one and a half years of detention, fourteen residents in Nanyang City, Henan Province were sentenced to prison for their faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual and meditation discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Ms. He Ximei was sentenced to 9 years and fined 30,000 yuan.Ms. Cao Ailan was sentenced to 8 years and fined 30,000 yuan.Mr. Wang Tiezhuang was sentenced to 7 years and fined 20,000 yuan.Mr. Tie Linfeng (Ms. He’s husband) was sentenced to 4 years and fined 10,000 yuan.Ms. Han Lanying, nearly 80, was sentenced to 4 years and fined 5,000 yuan.Ms. Li Meiyu was sentenced to 4 years and fined 5,000 yuan.Ms. Zhang Yulian was sentenced to 3 years and 5 months and fined 5,000 yuan.Ms. Yuan Xifeng was sentenced to 3 years and fined 5,000 yuan.Mr. Kui Yingxiang, in his 80s, was sentenced to 3 years and fined 5,000 yuan.Mr. Zhang Xibin, 80, was sentenced to 3 years and fined 5,000 yuan.

Additionally, Ms. Yuan Daling, Mr. Jia Jing’an and Ms. Liu Furong were sentenced to a 3-year suspended term and fined 5,000 yuan. Mr. Wei Jie was sentenced to a 2-year suspended term and fined 5,000 yuan.

Mr. Wang was the Director of Nanyang City Administration for Industry and Commerce before he retired. For speaking up for Falun Gong, he served three years in Henan Province No.3 Forced Labor Camp between 2001 and 2004. The labor camp guards tortured him by tying him up and brushing his anus with a toothbrush.

Mr. Kui was held at the Nanyang City Detention Center. He fell into a coma and stayed in an intensive care unit for more than ten days in April 2020.

All of the practitioners were seized between August 30 and 31, 2019 during a mass arrest of over 160 practitioners. It’s reported that the police and Political and Legal Affairs Committee, an extra-judiciary agency tasked with persecuting Falun Gong, had been monitoring the practitioners since April 2019. In July 2019, police officers and residential committee staffers visited the practitioners at home, collecting information about their IDs and household registration. Most practitioners also had their photos taken.

At around 4 p.m. on August 29, 2019, all officers participating in the arrests gathered in one place and were ordered to turn off their cellphones. At around 10 p.m. that night, they took coordinated action to arrest the practitioners and ransack their homes. The arrests continued into midnight and expanded into the suburban areas of Nanyang.

Other than the 14 sentenced practitioners, another 27 practitioners are awaiting verdicts following a court hearing by the Wancheng District Court on August 11, 2020.

Related reports:

27 Falun Gong Practitioners Tried in One Day for Their Faith

Nanyang City, Henan Province: 32 Falun Gong Practitioners Arrested in Two Days

Chinese version available

Category: Accounts of Persecution