Qingdao City, Shandong Province: Three Locals Sentenced for Their Faith on 23rd Anniversary of Persecution

(Minghui.org) Three Qingdao City, Shandong Province residents were sentenced to prison for practicing Falun Gong on July 20, 2022, the 23rd anniversary of the persecution against this ancient spiritual discipline by the Chinese Communist Party.

Ms. Chen Yanhong, 47, was sentenced to three years. Mr. Guo Zhimin, 60, was sentenced to fourteen months, and another female practitioner whose name remained to be investigated was sentenced to nine months.

Details of Ms. Chen’s Case

Ms. Chen was arrested at home early on the morning of November 29, 2021. She had previously been reported for distributing Falun Gong materials. The police confiscated her Falun Gong books and photo of Falun Gong’s founder. She has since been held at the Pudong Detention Center.

Her arrest happened on her father’s birthday. The family had planned a birthday party for him, only to be dealt a heavy blow with the arrest of Ms. Chen, the only child of her parents. The mental distress also took a toll on the elderly couple’s health. Both lost a significant amount of weight within a short time and remain disheartened.

Ms. Chen’s family learned on January 28, 2022 that the police had submitted her case to the Chengyang District Procuratorate. As she is denied family visits, other details of her case remain unclear at the time of writing.

Daughter’s Appeal

Ms. Chen had struggled with a severe skin condition since she was a child, but completely recovered shortly after she took up Falun Gong. Her family all supports her in practicing Falun Gong.

Ms. Chen’s daughter, who lives in South Korea with her husband, recalled that when she was in high school, her pregnant cousin moved in with them, for Ms. Chen to take care of her, instead of turning to her own mother or mother-in-law. Ms. Chen never said anything, but took good care of her niece.

Ms. Chen also often reminded her daughter to respect her parents-in-law and be considerate of them. Whenever the younger woman had conflicts with her parents-in-law and called her mother, Ms. Chen always asked her to improve herself, instead of blaming others.

“Thanks to my mother, I’m having a very close relationship with my in-laws now. Upon learning about my mother’s arrest, our whole family cried. My in-laws often asked about her situation. We all hope to get her out of China and apply for asylum in South Korea.”

Perpetrators’ contact information:

Yu Zongtao (于宗涛), officer of Shangma Police Station: [phone], [phone]Lu Shaobo (卢少波), head of Shangma Police Station: [phone], [phone]Pudong Detention Center: [phone]

(More perpetrator’s contact information is available in the original Chinese article.)