(Minghui.org) Mr. Li Chunfeng, of Sanhe City, Hebei Province, was sentenced to three years and three months in November 2024 for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Mr. Li, in his 50s, and his wife, Ms. Sun Liting, were arrested at home on July 3, 2023, by seven agents from the Sanhe City Domestic Security Division, including deputy chief Jia Zhixue and Li Xiaohang, as well as officers from the Huangzhuang Township Police Station. The couple’s Falun Gong books, portrait of Falun Gong’s founder, a few copies of Falun Gong magazines and three cell phones, were confiscated.
At the Sanhe City Police Department’s case processing center, the police accused Mr. Li of posting videos to encourage people to quit the Chinese Communist Party and gave him ten days of detention.
Meanwhile, the police also interrogated Ms. Sun as to where she and her husband got the Falun Gong books, whether they distributed informational materials about Falun Gong and whether they posted information about it online. A young officer wrote a statement to renounce Falun Gong and forced Ms. Sun to sign it. She was released that night.
Mr. Li’s father, in his 80s, went to the Huangzhuang Township Police Station to demand his immediate release, but to no avail.
Mr. Li was arrested again on April 10, 2024 and taken to the Sanhe City Detention Center. The police said to his family that this was to close his case from last year and if he wasn’t released in 15 days, they should just prepare for the fact that he would be sentenced to prison.
Mr. Li’s family recently confirmed that he was sentenced to three years and three months by the Sanhe City Court in November 2024.
Mr. Li and Ms. Sun began to practice Falun Gong in 1998. After the persecution started a year later, both of them were repeatedly arrested and detained for upholding their faith.
Mr. Li and seven local practitioners went to Beijing on March 3, 2000 to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong and were arrested at Tiananmen Square. After they were taken back to Sanhe, Huang Yi, the chief of Huangzhuang Township Police Station, handcuffed them to the utility poles. The police then interrogated, beat, and verbally abused them for over an hour.
At night, Huang and Pan Jinzhong, the Party secretary of the Huangzhuang Township, stripped the eight practitioners, took away all of their valuables and forced them to kneel in front of the utility poles, while still being handcuffed to the poles.
Huang handcuffed Mr. Li and then pulled his arms up from behind his back. When Mr. Li refused to renounce Falun Gong, Huang beat him on the head.
Officer Zhang Haili slapped several practitioners, including Mr. Li, in the face. When his own hand began to hurt, he beat them with a leather shoe and then whipped them with a leather belt. He whipped the practitioners so hard that the belt broke into three pieces. The practitioners’ bodies were covered with injuries and bruises.
A township government official named Tian Yongjun also broke a leather belt after using it to whip a female practitioner’s thighs. He also kicked the practitioner. While beating another female practitioner, he slapped her in the face and hit her nose, causing severe bruises and swelling around her nose.
After beating the practitioners for over three hours, the police kept them handcuffed overnight and raided their homes, before transferring them to the Sanhe City Detention Center the next day.
Mr. Li contracted scabies, which became extremely itchy. The detention center guards extorted 1,000 yuan from his family before releasing him.
Mr. Li and his wife were arrested again around 9 p.m. on April 24, 2001, by Zhen Ruixing of the Huangzhuang Township government and police officer Niu Baojun.
Mr. Li’s next arrest was on August 5, 2011 by Zhou Yong, an instructor of the Huangzhuang Township Police Station, and ten other officers. He was held at the Langfang City Brainwashing Center for an unknown amount of time.
Mr. Li and Ms. Sun were harassed two more times in mid-November 2019 and on April 12, 2021.
In mid-October 2021, officials of the Huangzhuang Township government attempted to force Ms. Sun to record a video to renounce Falun Gong. As she refused to comply, she was arrested in early November by village officials Mi Wenzhong and Zhang Jinrong, as well as several other township government officers. She was interrogated at the township government and released on the same day.