After One Year of Displacement, Heilongjiang Man Arrested and Sentenced

(Minghui.org) A Bayan County, Heilongjiang Province, resident was recently sentenced to four years for his faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Mr. Zhang Qingwu was arrested on May 21, 2020, after he was reported for distributing Falun Gong informational materials in a nearby village. Officers from the Xinglong Town Police Station ransacked his home. 

Mr. Zhang’s arrest came nearly a year after he was forced to live away from home to avoid the persecution, following harassment on April 25, 2019, when the police threatened to arrest him if he didn’t renounce Falun Gong.

Following his latest arrest, the police quarantined Mr. Zhang in a local hotel for nine days, before transferring him to the Bayan County Detention Center. He was forced to pay 3,600 yuan for the stay in the hotel.

It’s been recently confirmed by Mr. Zhang’s family that he has been sentenced to four years and has been taken to the Hulan Prison to serve time.

Since Li Yanguo, the secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Committee (an extra-judiciary agency tasked with overseeing the persecution), took office in 2017, Li has ordered a series of events in all middle schools and elementary schools in Bayan County to slander Falun Gong. Some schools also sent letters to the students and their parents, encouraging them to report local Falun Gong practitioners.

Prior to the 19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in October 2017, Li ordered the local police to closely monitor Falun Gong practitioners and prevent them from going to Beijing to appeal for justice for Falun Gong.

Liu Chang, the head of the Bayan County Police Department, and Yu Haiyan, the head of the Domestic Security Office, also participated in the persecution.

Mr. Zhang’s arrest in May 2020 also prompted the Political and Legal Affairs Committee and Police Department in Bayan County to hold meetings and order local police to harass Falun Gong practitioners in their districts.

Perpetrators’ contact information:
Li Yanguo (李彦国), secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Committee: [phone]Wen Yuquan (闻玉权), head of the 610 Office: [phone], [phone]Liu Chang (刘畅), head of the Bayan County Police Department: [phone]Yu Haiyan (于海燕), head of the Domestic Security Office: [phone]Zhang Wenjiang (张文江), head of Xinglong Police Station: [phone], [phone]Wang Yan (王岩), head of Bayan County Detention Center: [phone]

(More perpetrators’ contact information is available in the original Chinese article.)