(Minghui.org) A Chengdu City, Sichuan Province resident was sentenced to four years in prison on May 12, 2021 for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Mr. Yang Huaming, a 53-year-old staff member of the Sichuan Province Maternal and Child Health Hospital, was arrested on October 1, 2019 when he went back to his hometown in Shehong. Both police from Chengdu and Shehong participated in the arrest.

After the police submitted his case to the Wuhou District Procuratorate, the prosecutor returned it twice, citing insufficient evidence. The police threatened Mr. Yang and his family that if he didn’t plead guilty, he would be given a heavy sentence.

The prosecutor indicted Mr. Yang after the police’s third attempt. Mr. Yang appeared in the Wuhou District Court on April 21, 2021. He pleaded not guilty and argued that no law has ever criminalized Falun Gong in China. He further stated that the Chinese Publication Bureau had lifted the ban of Falun Gong literature in 2011. 

The presiding judge indicated that they don’t follow the law in prosecuting Falun Gong cases, but only listen to the 610 Office, an extralegal agency created on June 10, 1999, specifically to persecute Falun Gong.

The judge sentenced Mr. Yang to four years with a 10,000-yuan fine on May 12, 2021.