Hebei Man Sentenced for Practicing Falun Gong, Term Later Changed from 3.5 to 6 Years

(Minghui.org) A Hengshui City, Hebei Province, resident was sentenced to 3.5 years in mid-April 2022 for talking to people about Falun Gong. While he was allowed to serve time at home due to his poor health, the court nevertheless held another trial for him months later and increased his term to 6 years.

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

Mr. Zhao Changyu, 64, was arrested after being reported for talking to people about Falun Gong. It is unclear in what year and on what date the arrest took place. Although the police released him on bail a few days later, they came back several times to harass him. The mental trauma took a toll on his health and he lost the ability to walk. While he was receiving treatment in the hospital, the police still went there to harass him.

The Jizhou District Court held a virtual trial of Mr. Zhao in mid-April 2022 and sentenced him to 3.5 years. As he couldn’t walk, the judge allowed him to serve time at home.

Two months later, however, the judge went to Mr. Zhao’s home and held another trial of him. It remains to be investigated why a new trial was held when the previous one was never declared a mistrial. The judge re-sentenced him and increased his term to 6 years.

The judge also instructed the police to take him into custody if his physical examination result was good. Mr. Zhao was soon arrested, after being deceived into believing that the police were taking him to the hospital for a COVID-19 test.

Previous Five-year Term

Mr. Zhao took up Falun Gong in 1998. He credits the practice for curing his arthritis, stomach problems, and neurasthenia. Many of his family members and friends also began to practice Falun Gong after seeing his changes.

Because Mr. Zhao upheld Falun Gong in the face of the persecution, he was arrested four times and detained for a total of 180 days. The police extorted thousands of yuan from him.

In April 2002, Mr. Zhao was sentenced to five years in Jidong Prison, where he was subjected to solitary confinement, beatings, and sleep deprivation. The guards also tortured him on the tiger bench and tied him up in a spread-eagle position on a bed. He became emaciated. He had difficulty walking, and two inmates had to carry him to use the restroom.

Perpetrators’ contact information:

Xing Jianwu (邢建武), judge, Jizhou District Court: [phone]Wang Qingmian (王青棉), judge, Jizhou District Court: [phone]

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