(Minghui.org) A man in Jidong County, Heilongjiang Province, was recently sentenced to 15 months in Nantong City, Jiangsu Province, for his faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Mr. Han Wei was initially arrested on March 28, 2024, because he used his brother Mr. Han Chao’s cell phone to recharge his phone card on WeChat, a social media platform (which has payment functions), and the phone card was used to send multi-media (text, videos, and audios) messages about Falun Gong.
The Nantong City Police Department, which has been using big data to monitor online activities, discovered the brothers’ phone activities. They traveled 1,600 miles to Jidong County and arrested Mr. Han Chao, who does not practice Falun Gong, on March 13, 2024. They took him to Nantong and admitted him to a local detention center on criminal charges the next day. His wife was so traumatized by his arrest that she suffered a relapse of her heart condition and had to be hospitalized.
Other Nantong police officers, including captain Xu from the Tongzhou District Police Department and officer Zhou from the Zhangzhishan Police Station, waited outside Mr. Han Wei’s home for days before arresting him on March 28, 2024. They took him to Nantong on March 30, 2024.
Mr. Han Chao and Mr. Han Wei were released on bail on April 10 and April 30, 2024, respectively. The Nantong police lifted Mr. Han Chao’s bail conditions in mid-April 2025, but submitted Mr. Han Wei’s case to the Chongchuan District Procuratorate in Nantong City.
The Chongchuan District Court notified Mr. Han Wei on July 12, 2025, to pick up his indictment issued by prosecutor Zhang Yong. He went there to get his indictment and subpoena. He was allowed to return to Heilongjiang and remain on bail awaiting his trial scheduled for August 6, 2025.
At the end of July 2025, Mr. Han called prosecutor Zhang, requesting a postponement of his trial because his father, nearly 90, had been diagnosed with a terminal disease. He was told to mail his father’s medical records to them, which he did. But he was arrested on the morning of August 1, 2025, when he went to the Dongfeng Police Station in Jidong County as ordered. Officer Ye Yang from the Tongzhou District Police Department in Nantong City said that judge Sun Taiyong issued an order on July 25 to take him back into custody at the Nantong City Detention Center.
Mr. Han was initially scheduled to appear in the Chongchuan District Court in Nantong City on August 6, but judge Sun notified his lawyer on August 3, saying that the lawyer was not allowed to represent him in court.
Mr. Han hired a new lawyer, who went to Nantong on August 5, only to be told that the hearing scheduled for the next day had been canceled.
Judge Sun notified the lawyer on September 4 that a new hearing was scheduled for 2 p.m. on September 25 at the courtroom-in-residence at the Nantong City Detention Center. He called the lawyer again on September 8 to say that he might change the hearing on September 25 to a “pre-trial conference,” which was later canceled again.
A hearing was finally held at the detention center on December 1, 2025. When Mr. Han was testifying in his own defense, judge Sun suddenly adjourned the hearing. He held another session on December 16. Mr. Han maintained that he didn’t violate any law in practicing his faith.
Judge Sun announced on March 26, 2026, that Mr. Han was sentenced to 15 months in prison. He has appealed with the Nantong City Intermediate Court.
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