(Minghui.org) Mr. Miao Jianguo, 60, from Jinzhou City, Liaoning Province, recently lost his appeal of a five-year prison term for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Mr. Miao was an electrician at the Jinzhou Railroad Bureau East Section. He was arrested at home on August 21, 2024, by eight officers from the Taihe District Domestic Security Office and the Daxue Police Station. The police opened his door with a master key and entered. Only one officer flashed his ID but did not allow Mr. Miao to read it.
An officer (who was later confirmed to be Liu Changjie) handcuffed Mr. Miao. Without a proper search warrant, they raided his place, confiscated his personal belongings, and arrested another practitioner, Ms. Zhou Lina, who happened to be visiting Mr. Miao and needed help to charge her electric bike.
Mr. Miao was put on criminal detention the next day at the Jinzhou City Detention Center. The police claimed that they arrested him because he promoted Falun Gong and defamed government officials in his retirement application which he submitted to his former employer.
Mr. Miao, born in August 1964, started to work at the Jinzhou Railroad Bureau East Section in December 1982. He was fired when he was sentenced to a 3-year forced labor camp term in 2002 for practicing Falun Gong. He was later sentenced to 4 years in 2008 and given another 1.5-year prison term in 2022.
Following his arrest in 2001, his eight-month pregnant wife, also a Falun Gong practitioner, was so distressed that she suffered placental abruption, resulting in the unborn child’s death. She was never able to carry a baby again. She passed away in 2022, after enduring years of persecution, while Mr. Miao was still detained.
In July 2024, Mr. Miao applied for retirement benefits and recounted his family’s persecution in the application, only to have that become his “crime.”
On August 29, 2024, prosecutors Na Wenshan, Li Feng and Li Dongyu of the Linghai City Procuratorate came to the Jinzhou City Detention Center to depose Mr. Miao. He demanded the prosecutors sign the deposition form first. Prosecutor Na verbally abused and intimidated him. Na then took the form and said they didn’t need Mr. Miao’s signature on it. The prosecutors approved Mr. Miao’s arrest later that day.
The Taihe District Domestic Security Office submitted Mr. Miao’s case to the Linghai City Procuratorate on October 23, 2024. Prosecutors Li Feng and Li Dongyu indicted Mr. Miao on October 30, 2024. His case was formally registered with the Linghai City Court on November 4, 2024. Due to police threats, his family didn’t hire a lawyer for him, nor could they afford legal counsel.
Linghai is under the administration of Jinzhou, and the Linghai City Procuratorate and the Linghai City Court have been designated to handle Falun Gong cases in the greater Jinzhou area.
Mr. Miao stood trial on February 18, 2025. He testified in his own defense and argued that no law in China criminalizes Falun Gong and that he didn’t violate any laws in practicing his faith. The prosecutors were changed to Li Yicong and Sun Xitong, as Mr. Miao filed complaints against Li Feng and Li Dongyu for verbally abusing him during the deposition.
That day, Ms. Zhou, who was arrested together with Mr. Miao, was also tried by the Linghai City Court. She was sentenced to four and a half years and fined 6,000 yuan on March 14, 2025.
Mr. Miao was sentenced to five years and fined 6,000 yuan on April 16, 2025. Judges Tian Fang, Wang Yue, and Li Yuan, as well as the judges’ assistant Tie Yan and clerk Liu Xinyu signed his verdict.
Mr. Miao appealed to the Jinzhou City Intermediate Court on April 24, 2025. He said that the Linghai City Court failed to inform his family of his hearing and appoint a lawyer to represent him according to the law, when he didn’t have any legal representation. In addition, none of the prosecution evidence was exhibited in court for cross examination; the witness Zhang Xiushan, the manager at the Jinzhou Railroad Bureau East Section who received Mr. Miao’s retirement application, didn’t appear in court either.
The appeals court ruled on an unknown date to uphold Mr. Miao’s original verdict. Judges Li Hejun, Song Tieming, and Sun Xiao, as well as the judges’ assistant Wang Yiying and clerk Feng Dandan signed the ruling.
Related Reports:
Liaoning Man Arrested Again One Year After Serving a Prison Term for His Faith
Former Electrician Imprisoned for His Faith and Denied Family Visits
Having Served Nine Years, Liaoning Man Sentenced Again for Practicing Falun Gong
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