(Minghui.org) A Go coach serving time for his faith in Falun Gong is suffering a kidney cyst. As Mr. Xie Wanmeng isn’t allowed to talk about the situation inside the prison, his family is very worried about whether he is being abused for upholding his faith.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Mr. Xie, a 38-year-old professional Go coach in Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province, was arrested on May 28, 2019, along with his two guests, Mr. Wu Rui (also a Shenzhen local) and Ms. Li Ruihua (a Beijing resident). It was reported that the police arrested Mr. Xie after spotting him through surveillance cameras putting up information about Falun Gong and found his residence through monitoring.
The Yantian District Court sentenced Mr. Xie to 3.5 years in prison on April 1, 2021, with a 5,000-yuan fine. Mr. Wu and Ms. Li each got two years with 3,000-yuan fines. Mr. Xie appealed the verdict, but the higher court ruled to uphold his sentence.
Mr. Wu and Ms. Li were released from the Yantian District Detention Center on May 29, 2021, after having served the time. Mr. Xie, who still has 1.5 years left on his term, was transferred from the Longgang Detention Center to Sihui Prison on September 27.
When Mr. Xie’s family visited him on November 25, he remained silent about his situation in the prison and hinted that the guards forbade him to say anything about it.
Mr. Xie’s family applied to have a video chat with him on January 16, 2022, but their application was refused by the prison, which claimed that video conferences with people from out of the province are not allowed.
Mr. Xie’s family later learned from a source that he was found to have a kidney cyst on his right side during a physical examination on October 17. Mr. Xie was very healthy before his arrest. His family has written several letters to him but never received any response.
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