(Minghui.org) Nine residents of Changtu County, Liaoning Province were sentenced to prison on March 25, 2024 for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Mr. Sun Wanliang was sentenced to two years. Ms. Zhao Chunlin, Ms. Meng Guilan, Ms. Shi Guimin, Mr. Zhao Hongjie, and Mr. Geng Ming were each given one year. Mr. Tian Wei was sentenced to eight months. Mr. Wang Huafeng and Mr. Liu Zhiyong each received four months and both have been released after serving time. All nine were also fined, but the amount was not known.
The trial, presided by judge Lyu Chi, lasted from 10 a.m. to 5:20 p.m. The practitioners’ lawyers entered not guilty plea for them. Only three family members of each practitioner were allowed to attend the session.
Five Arrested on May 15, 2023
The practitioners were targeted for distributing Falun Gong materials in Fujia Town around 9 p.m. on May 15, 2023. Five of them, including Mr. Zhao Chunlin, Ms. Shi, Mr. Liu, Mr. Zhao Hongjie and Ms. Meng, were arrested by officers of the Fujia Town Police Station that evening.
Mr. Sun and Mr. Wang Arrested on June 2, 2023
Two months later on June 2, two more practitioners, including Mr. Sun and Mr. Wang, were seized by the police.
Led by Liu Jianxin, the head of Changtu County Domestic Security Office, six plainclothes officers descended at Mr. Sun’s home in private cars around 10 a.m. on June 2, 2023. Without a search warrant or showing their police ID, they broke in and took Mr. Sun away. His wife, Ms. Zhang Yufen, demanded to know the reason for the arrest. Liu claimed that Mr. Sun had a traffic violation. They took away the couple’s home key from Ms. Zhang and pressed her against the ground. They attempted to handcuff and arrest her, but relented given strong protest from their family. Ms. Zhang’s wrists were in pain for many days.
Mr. Sun’s 83-year-old disabled father pleaded with Liu not to arrest his son and the villagers also demanded his release, but to no avail. The police took Mr. Sun to the Changfa Town Police Station and didn’t allow him to drink water. Moments later, they put a black hood on his head and took him to the local detention center.
Ms. Sun’s arrest dealt a hard blow to his father. He passed away two and a half months later on August 16. When Mr. Sun’s lawyer visited him on the same day, he learned that an inmate kicked Mr. Sun in the chest, breaking a rib. Despite his injury, he was forced to sit on a small stool in solitary confinement. His family had filed a complaint against the police and detention center director.
Mr. Tian Arrested on July 23, 2023
The police also attempted to arrest Mr. Tian and Mr. Geng on June 2, 2023. After they both escaped, the police put them on the wanted list.
Mr. Tian’s wife has complications from diabetes, including swelling and pus-oozing of her right leg and blurry vision. Yet officers Liu and Guo Xiaofeng repeatedly harassed her at home, causing her condition to deteriorate further. On July 23, 2023, the third day after her leg-amputation surgery, the police identified Mr. Tian through facial recognition system when he was buying food for her, who was still in critical condition. They arrested him and took him to the Changtu County Detention Center, without notifying his family. His family only found out about his arrest when his wife’s doctor called him.
Mr. Geng Arrested on August 31, 2023
One month later, on August 31, 2023, Mr. Geng was also seized by the Changtu County Domestic Security Office.
The police later submitted the nine practitioners’ cases to the Changtu County Procuratorate, which forwarded their cases to the Changtu County Court in December 2023. The judge initially scheduled a hearing for January 26, 2024, but later postponed it to March 25, when he eventually convicted them.
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