(Minghui.org) A Yiyang City, Hunan Province, resident was recently sentenced to three years and seven months in prison for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual and meditation discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

This is the third time that Mr. Zhang Chunqiu, 57, has been incarcerated for his faith in Falun Gong. He was in prison for eight years between April 19, 2001, and April 19, 2009, and also served one year and nine months at Xinkaipu Forced Labor Camp between February 21, 2010, and November 21, 2011. 

While in custody at various facilities, Mr. Zhang was subjected to relentless torture for upholding his faith. On April 19, 2002, the day when he was admitted to Yiyang City First Detention Center, he was ordered to kneel down facing the wall. A guard then ran up to him from behind and kept kneeing him in the back until he spit up blood. On October 2, 2002, while he was in the Hunan Province First Detention Center, the guards shocked him with six electric batons on his sensitive and private parts. On May 17, 2003, while he was in Jinshi Prison, the guards hung him up with a nearly 165-pound board around his neck for 13 hours, causing tremendous damage to his neck. In addition, the prison authorities also used him for clinical trials on tuberculosis and hepatitis cures.

After he was released from the labor camp in 2011, Mr. Zhang moved to Foshan City, Guangdong Province to make a living. He was arrested again on October 10, 2012. His rental apartment was ransacked. He was then taken back to Yiyang and detained at the Datonghu District Detention Center. 

The authorities closely monitored Mr. Zhang and his family’s daily life after he was released on November 18, 2012. 

Mr. Zhang was arrested again on April 8, 2014, while working at Huaihua City, Hunan Province, and sent back to Yiyang.

Mr. Zhang’s latest arrest was on December 6, 2019, while he was working in Loudi, a city southwest of Yiyang. He was tried by the Louxing District Court on June 11, 2020, and later sentenced to prison. He has appealed the verdict with the Loudi City Intermediate Court.

Related reports:

Once Incarcerated for Ten Years, Hunan Man Faces Prosecution for His Faith Again

Ten Falun Gong Practitioners Arrested in Huaihua City; Police Rob Them of More Than 60,000 Yuan

Mr. Zhang Chunqiu from Yiyang City in Hunan Province Tortured Many Times; Now Held In Xinkaipu Forced Labor Camp

Mr. Zhang Chunqiu in Hunan Province Persecuted for Eight Years