(Minghui.org) A husband and wife in Tangshan City, Hebei Province, have been secretly sentenced for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual belief that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist regime since 1999.
Mr. Tian Shisheng was sentenced to seven years, and his wife, Ms. Tian Shulan, to five years. They have appealed the verdicts.
On the morning of July 3, 2019, about 14 officers from the local police station and police department barged into the couple’s home and arrested them. Their computers, printers, Falun Gong books, over 10,000 yuan in cash, and many other valuables were confiscated.
The couple were part of a group arrest of nine practitioners that same day. The police have been monitoring the practitioners’ movements by tapping their phones and following them for at least two weeks before making the arrests.
The couple were detained in the Tangshan No. 1 Detention Center. It was recently confirmed by Minghui.org that they were secretly tried in the Lubei District Court and sentenced to prison.
Mr. Tian was hospitalized in 1997 when he discovered blood in his stool. The doctors told him that he was in serious condition and needed blood transfusions. Within a short period of time, he’d spent all his family savings and money he’d borrowed on his medical expenses. His family took him home after the hospital could not accurately diagnose the cause of his condition.
Because Mr. Tian could no longer work, his wife struggled to support and take care of him and their young son. Due to the stress, she suffered several heart attacks.
At the end of 1997, an acquaintance introduced the couple to Falun Gong and told them that their illnesses could be cured by reading the Falun Gong book. They decided to give it a try. Mr. Tian regained his health and was able to return to work. Ms. Tian’s heart disease was also cured.
Li Yanming (李艳明), president, Lubei District Court: +86-13803159525, +86-18103257555Li Shusheng(李书生), vice-president, Lubei District Court: +86-13832868199
(Contact information for more of the parties involved is available in the original Chinese article.)
Tangshan City, Hebei Province: Nine Falun Gong Practitioners Arrested in One Day