(Minghui.org) The Minghui.org website recently confirmed that a Dalian City, Liaoning Province resident was sentenced to four years in January 2020 for his faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Mr. Yu Xiangjia, 47, was arrested on May 24, 2019 on a high-speed train, after the police checking IDs found he had been flagged in their system as a Falun Gong practitioner. He was brought back home in the evening and the police confiscated his Falun Gong books, two computers, and two printers.
The police returned to his home two days later and arrested his wife, Ms. Sun Qianyi, also a Falun Gong practitioner. Both of their arrests were approved in July 2019 and they were detained at the Yaojia Detention Center.
Mr. Yu was secretly tried by the Xigang Court on December 11, 2019 and sentenced to a four-year term weeks later. He appealed the verdict and is still awaiting the result at the Yaojia Detention Center.
It’s not clear whether Ms. Sun has been sentenced.
Past Persecution
Mr. Yu took up Falun Gong in 1997. After the communist regime ordered the persecution in 1999, his supervisor at the Dalian Railroad System attempted to pressure him to give up his faith. They also harassed his wife.
Not wanting to cause trouble for his supervisor, Mr. Yu quit his job. His daughter was only one-year-old at that time. The harassment took a toll on his mother’s health, and she soon passed away due to the mental pressure.
Mr. Yu and his wife were arrested in early 2000 when they went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong. They were detained for 15 days at the Yaojia Detention Center.
In July 2000, Mr. Yu found a job at a construction site, only to be reported by his supervisor for doing the Falun Gong exercises at night. He was held at the Yaojia Detention Center again for 15 days.
The couple was arrested again three months later, and interrogated. They were each given one year at the Dalian City Forced Labor Camp after being held 40 days at the Yaojia Detention Center.
Mr. Yu found a job at a convenience store in 2003, but was reported for talking to another employee about Falun Gong. He was given another 15 days at the Yaojia Detention Center.
