(Minghui.org) A married couple in Yishui County, Shandong Province were both sentenced to four and a half years with a 30,000-yuan fine on November 6, 2024 for their shared faith in Falun Gong.

Ms. Kong Xianzhen and her husband, Mr. Xu Yizhong, were arrested at home on May 28, 2024, by Shen Wenfeng and a few other officers from the Yishui County Domestic Security Division. The local grid manager, Xu Jianhua (no relation to Mr. Xu), led the police to the couple’s home that day. [Note: China’s grid-style social management system involves dividing each county into smaller zones (or grids) and tasking the grid managers with monitoring citizens and reporting suspicious activities to local governments on a regular basis.]

After raiding the couple’s home, the police took Mr. Xu to the Yishui County Detention Center and Ms. Kong to the medical division within the Linyi City Detention Center. Ms. Kong was released on bail on May 30, 2024. The Yinan County Procuratorate issued formal arrest warrants for her and her husband on July 2. Linyi oversees both Yishui County and Yinan County.

The Yinan County Court sentenced Mr. Xu and Ms. Kong to four and a half years with a 30,000-yuan fine on November 6, 2024. Ms. Kong was taken back into custody and admitted to the Shandong Province Women’s Prison in Jinan. Mr. Xu is now serving time at the Shandong Province Prison, also in Jinan.

This is not the first time that the couple have been targeted for their faith. Both were repeatedly harassed and arrested over the past two plus decades. Ms. Kong was given three forced labor terms.

Ms. Kong was arrested in 2000, and in July that year she and more than ten other Falun Gong practitioners held at the local brainwashing center were forced to do hard labor every day. Then secretary of Yishui Town Political and Legal Affairs Committee, He Fajiang, instructed Li Hongwei and Wang Jianjun, head and deputy head of the local 610 Office, to take the practitioners to a local garden at 8 a.m. to pull weeds under the scorching sun. At 4 p.m., the practitioners were sent back to the brainwashing center. All the practitioners had severe sunburns and their skin peeled off.

The Yishui County Political and Legal Affairs Committee set up four new brainwashing centers on October 4, 2000 to persecute local Falun Gong practitioners. Ms. Kong and 22 other practitioners were held at a brainwashing center located in a middle school and forced to each pay 1,200 yuan to cover their expenses there. The guards there, however, fed the practitioners their own leftovers, or steamed buns and pickled vegetables.

Besides forced labor, the practitioners were beaten and made to run laps or do push-ups every day. Those who couldn’t do push-ups well were whipped with tree branches.

The guards also deceived the practitioners’ families into coming to the brainwashing center to be companions. The practitioners were forced to wear a name tag reading “Die-hard Falun Gong” and their loved ones were also given a tag reading “companion.” The guards even whipped the practitioners in front of their family members. Ms. Kong had blood in her mouth after a beating in front of her father. After she was released more than three weeks of detention, she had to be carried on her husband’s back to get around.

Other practitioner were also badly injured. Ms. Wang Yongfen suffered three broken ribs and a severe liver injury. Ms. Xiang Guiying had a relapse of her heart condition. Ms. Li Mingyan suffered a severe kidney injury, and Ms. Hao Maofen leg muscle injuries. Ms. Su Jixiang was beaten to incapacity.

After another arrest on June 12, 2003, Ms. Kong was held at the Junan County Detention for one month, before being moved to the Jinan Labor Camp to serve an unknown term.

Ms. Kong and another practitioner, Ms. Xu Qingfang, were arrested on the night of July 19, 2005, while distributing Falun Gong informational materials. Liu Fenghua, a government worker, took them to the Yishui Toan 610 Office, where deputy head Wang Jianjun beat them non-stop for more than one hour. He also shocked them with electric batons. The skin on Ms. Kong’s arms broke and oozed out yellow liquid. Her mouth became swollen, and she bled from her nose. Her face was deformed as a result of the beatings and electric shocks.

Wang led a group of people to raid the two women’s homes at 9:30 a.m. the next day. Ms. Kong’s husband demanded to see a search warrant and Wang responded, “We don’t have one, but we’ll still search your home!”

After the raid, Wang took Ms. Kong and Ms. Xu to the Yishui County Detention Center. Ms. Kong was later transferred to the Jinan Labor Camp to serve an unknown term.

Ms. Kong and her husband were arrested on November 10, 2011, by over 30 officers who broke into their home. Mr. Xu was held at the Yishui County Labor Camp for one month. Ms. Kong was released on bail days later, but was arrested again 40 days later and given an unknown term of forced labor.