Hebei Man Sentenced to Nine Years and Fined 100,000 Yuan for Posting Information about Falun Gong in His Hometown

(Minghui.org) A Sanhe City, Hebei Province, resident was arrested in early 2021 in his hometown in Fuyang City, Anhui Province. It was recently confirmed by Minghui.org that Mr. Zhou Sanyong has been sentenced to nine years and fined 100,000 yuan for his faith in Falun Gong in August 2022. He is now awaiting the result of his appeal.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Mr. Zhou was arrested on January 22, 2021, while putting up informational posters about Falun Gong in Fuyang. His printer, cellphone, and other personal items were confiscated. He was held at the Taihe County Detention Center and later transferred to a brainwashing center.

The police in Fuyang traveled with their counterparts in Beijing to Mr. Zhou’s home in Hebei on May 28, 2021, and confiscated 110,000 yuan in cash from him.

Liu Xiangzhou, the director of Taihe County Domestic Security Office, attempted to escalate the charge against Mr. Zhou, in order to benefit himself.

In late August 2022, the Taihe County Court held a trial of Mr. Zhou and sentenced him to nine years with a 100,000-yuan fine. The presiding judge, Li Lijuan, also claimed that the first three months Mr. Zhou was incarcerated in the detention center and brainwashing center didn’t count toward his prison term, and his term should run from April 2021 to March 2030.

Mr. Zhou appealed with the Fuyang City Intermediate Court. With his family’s protest, judges Wu Cuifang, Wu Feng, and Yu Lin agreed to have an in-person session to hear his case. It’s not clear whether the session had been scheduled at the time of writing.

At least 296 Falun Gong practitioners in Anhui were targeted for their faith in 2021. Among them, two practitioners died as a result, 36 were sentenced to prison, 126 were arrested, 88 were harassed, and 44 were held in brainwashing centers.

Perpetrators’ contact information:

Liu Xiangzhou (刘祥洲), director of Taihe County Domestic Security Office: [phone]Wang Hailei (王海磊), officer of Taihe County Domestic Security Office: [phone]Zhang Jiazhong (张家忠), secretary of Fuyang City Political and Legal Affairs Committee: [phone]

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