(Minghui.org) Mr. Li Yeliang’s family recently received a notice saying that their loved one had been admitted to the Beijing Second Prison to serve a three-year prison term for his faith in Falun Gong.
The wrongful conviction of the 55-year-old Beijing man stemmed from his simple act of giving the security guard at a residential complex a flash drive containing information about Falun Gong. The security guard reported him to the Yongshun Police Station in Tongzhou District, Beijing.
An officer called Mr. Li on September 28, 2024 and said the police chief needed to talk to him because the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation was to be held in Beijing.
Mr. Li replied that he had nothing to do with the Summit. The caller said, “See you tomorrow!” Mr. Li then went missing the next day. His family heard nothing from the authorities until recently when they received the prison notice. In retrospect, the family realized that the police were simply using the Summit as an excuse to arrest Mr. Li because the communist regime was known to intensify the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners around sensitive dates. As a matter of fact, the Summit was held on September 4-6, 2024, before that officer called Mr. Li.
This is not the first time that Mr. Li, who has a bachelor’s degree, has been targeted for his faith. After the persecution of Falun Gong began in July 1999, his workplace lowered his monthly pay to just a few hundred yuan. He had no way but quit. Not long after, he was arrested and given one year of forced labor.
Mr. Li was arrested again in 2002 after the police discovered he had provided shelter to another Falun Gong practitioner. They found Falun Gong materials at his home and got him sentenced to seven years in prison.
After another arrest (at an unknown time), Mr. Li was sentenced to four years in prison in 2017. His life didn’t get any easier after he was released because the police had put his information in their database. Every time he travelled between Beijing and his hometown in Rizhao City, Shandong Province, his ID would be flagged at the train stations and he and his phone would be searched. The police tapped his phone and harassed him in person or on the phone all the time.
Mr. Li worked as a photographer after quitting his job. Once he was contracted to photograph a group of conference attendees at Tiananmen Square but was not allowed to go after the authorities flagged his name. The Tiananmen police notified the police station in charge of his residence, which immediately called him and ordered him to report to them. He said he was still at the Great Wall and the police said they could come to him. They eventually didn’t go.
Another time Mr. Li moved to a different place. Not long after, the police station in the new location came knocking on the door together with their counterparts from the old location. They all had their bodycams on. He asked why the police from the old location would follow him to the new location. They replied that they were following orders to confirm his new residence.
Mr. Li stopped practicing Falun Gong for a period of time due to the relentless persecution. His health declined with his legs stiff and weak. He then resumed practicing Falun Gong and regained feeling in his legs in two months. He felt compelled to raise awareness of the persecution and gave the aforementioned security guard some information, only to be reported to the police and sentenced to another three years.
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