Crimes Committed by Wei Yanming, Former President of the Higher Court of Hebei Province, in the Persecution of Falun Gong

(Minghui.org) July 20, 2022, marked 23 years since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began to suppress Falun Gong in 1999. Around this date Falun Gong practitioners in 38 countries submitted an updated list of perpetrators, including those in the law enforcement, and judiciary branches, as well as the Political and Legal Affairs Committee, to their respective governments, urging that those on the list (and their family members) be barred from entering these countries and that their assets be frozen. 

The 38 countries are: the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Poland, Belgium, Sweden, Austria, Ireland, Denmark, Finland, the Czech Republic, Portugal, Greece, Hungary, Slovakia, Luxembourg, Croatia, Slovenia, Latvia, Estonia, Cyprus, Malta, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Switzerland, Norway, Liechtenstein, Israel, Mexico, Chile, and Dominica. 

Please refer to “New List of Perpetrators Submitted to 38 Governments on the 23rd Anniversary of the Persecution of Falun Gong” for details.

Wei Yanming, the former president of the Higher Court of Hebei Province, is on the list. 

Perpetrator Information

Full Name of Perpetrator: Wei (last name) Yanming (first name) (卫彦明)Gender: MaleCountry: ChinaDate/year of Birth: July 1957Place of Birth: Fushan City, Shanxi Province

Wei Yanming

Title or Position

January 2013 – February 2021: President and Party Secretary of the Higher Court of Hebei Province, and a member of the Political and Legal Affairs Committee of the Provincial Party Committee

December 2012: Secretary of the Party Leadership Group of the Higher Court of Hebei Province, and a member of the Political and Legal Affairs Committee of the Provincial Party Committee

2011: Member and Executive Director of the Judicial Committee of the Supreme Court

2009: Member of the Judicial Committee of the Supreme Court, Director of the Office of the Leading Group for the Reform of the Judicial System and Working Mechanism

Main Crimes

Since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began persecuting Falun Gong in 1999, the Hebei Provincial Party Committee, the Political and Legal Affairs Committee, the 610 Office, the Public Procuratorate and Judicial Department have closely followed the persecution policy against practitioners.

According to statistics from Minghui.org, among the 4,832 confirmed death cases as of August 28, 2022, 546 cases took place in Hebei Province, accounting for 11.3% of the total death toll.

When Wei Yanming became the secretary and president of the High Court of Hebei Province in December 2012, he personally directed the persecution in the provincial court system and slandered Falun Gong whenever he gave speeches. He demanded that, “all the courts in the province should fully perform criminal adjudication functions, ... and severely punish cult organizations.” 

According to statistics from Minghui.org, during Wei’s tenure between December 2012 to February 2021, at least 467 practitioners were sentenced in Hebei, and 8 died as a result of the torture in prison. Many others suffered injuries, disability, mental breakdowns, and were separated from their families due to the persecution. 

I. Select Death Cases

1. Mr. Wei Qishan

Mr. Wei Qishan was tortured to death in the Qinhuangdao City Detention Center in Hebei Province on the evening of November 23, 2019. Before his death, Mr. Wei was sentenced to four years in prison, and his wife, Ms. Yu Shurong, was sentenced to three and a half years in prison. 

Around 9:20 p.m. on November 23, Mr. Wei’s two sons received calls from the Qinhuangdao City Detention Center and were told that their father was dying in the Qinhuangdao City People’s Hospital. As both sons live some distance from their hometown, they called their aunt and asked her to go to the hospital to check on their father. Ten minutes later, the police called Mr. Wei’s sons again and informed them that Mr. Wei had just passed away.

Mr. Wei’s sister-in-law rushed to the hospital and saw his body, which was still on a stretcher but not in the emergency room. She noted that Mr. Wei’s eyes were half-open. His right arm was hanging down and his right sleeve was wet. She rolled his sleeve halfway up and saw his right arm was black and purple.

2. Mr. Cao Jinxing

Mr. Cao Jinxing was arrested on June 7, 2017, and was sentenced to seven years in prison, on June 26, 2018. His family was not allowed to see him after he was taken to the Jidong Prison in November 2018. The prison authorities informed his family around 8 a.m. on May 30, 2020, that Mr. Cao died of “sudden cardiac arrest.” He was 69.

When Mr. Cao’s family rushed to the prison on June 2, the prison authorities showed them some documents about Mr. Cao but did not allow them to take notes or pictures. His family learned that Mr. Cao had been diagnosed with an unknown terminal disease as early as 2018, but they were never notified and he was not given any medical treatment. 

Mr. Cao’s family also learned that the prison guards forced him to do unpaid labor despite his medical condition. 

3. Mr. Bian Qunlian 

Mr. Bian Qunlian was arrested on July 8, 2016, for talking to people about Falun Gong. The police beat him, cursed at him, and slapped him in the face with the soles of their shoes at the Chengde County Detention Center. 

Mr. Bian was sentenced to six years in Jidong Prison and fined 20,000 yuan by the Chengde County Court on February 15, 2017. He was diagnosed with rectal cancer in early January 2020, and he had surgery on April 13, 2020. The prison authorities did not allow his family to accompany him in the hospital and took him back to the prison after he was discharged. 

When Mr. Bian was brought home in an ambulance on August 9, 2020, he was emaciated. A feeding tube was inserted into his stomach, as he could no longer eat after the cancer metastasized. He had a high fever and could not recognize his own brother. He passed away four days later. He was 69.

4. Mr. Li Kai

Mr. Li Kai was arrested on July 29, 2015, and secretly sentenced to three and a half years in prison on September 21. The authorities took him to the Jidong Prison in early December 2015, without the family’s knowledge. Only after he suffered a stroke (cerebral hemorrhage) in prison, did his family receive a notice on January 14, 2016, to take him home. He passed away two weeks later on January 29, 2016.

5. Mr. Dong Hanjie

Mr. Dong Hanjie, an engineer from Zhuozhou, Hebei Province, was sentenced to five years in prison by the Zhuozhou City Court on February 11, 2015. He appealed the verdict, but the Baoding Intermediate Court ruled to uphold his original sentence on June 15, 2015. Mr. Dong was still healthy when his lawyer visited him at the detention center on August 16, 2015. But he passed away on October 10, 2015, less than two months after he was transferred to Jidong Prison. 

6. Mr. Ge Zhijun

Mr. Ge Zhijun worked for the Lingyun Industry Group in Zhuozhou City. He was sentenced to four years in prison on February 11, 2015. After he was released from the Jidong Prison on February 5, 2019, he was mentally unstable and spoke incoherently. He locked himself in his room. He couldn’t hold a job or live independently. He passed away on November 29, 2020. He was only 42. He is survived by his wife, a nine-year-old daughter, and his paralyzed father.

II. Select Group Arrest and Sentencing Cases

Over 40 Falun Gong practitioners in Shijiazhuang City and surrounding areas were arrested at 5 a.m. on November 15, 2013, during a police operation. Eight of them were later sentenced to prison.

Under the direct command of the Tangshan City Public Security Bureau, nine practitioners were arrested on March 13, 2014. All of them were sentenced.

In September 2014, the Haigang District Court of Qinhuangdao City sentenced 10 practitioners, including Mr. Lian Baochang and Mr. Zhang Xingang, to prison terms ranging from twenty months to seven years. According to court records, the police confiscated a total of 1,502,721 yuan from the 17 practitioners who were arrested together (the other seven practitioners’ prosecution status is not clear). The police pocketed an additional 200,000 yuan that was taken from the practitioners, but that amount was not included in the court’s tally of confiscated property.

During the 2016 Tangshan International Horticultural Exposition, 21 Falun Gong practitioners were arrested and their homes were ransacked on March 31. Among them, Mr. Lai Zhiqiang was sentenced to seven years in prison. He was tortured into a vegetative state in Jidong Prison.

Mr. Du Hexian was arrested on September 26, 2017. During his hearing by the Xiong County Court on December 8, 2017, the court locked him in a metal cage, even though he was already very weak after being tortured in custody. Not long after the session began, Mr. Du vomited blood. The judge adjourned the hearing for a few minutes and soon started it again. Ten minutes later, Mr. Du fainted, but the judge continued to question him. He briefly regained consciousness before fainting again. At the strong request of his family, the judge finally adjourned the session. He sentenced Mr. Du to seven years on June 15, 2018.

Nineteen Falun Gong practitioners in Zunhua were arrested at 3 a.m. on July 6, 2019, by more than 300 police officers. Among them, 12 practitioners, including 6 in their 60s and an 82-year-old woman, were sentenced to between two and eight years by the Zunhua City Court on November 27, 2020.

On July 13, 2019, 34 practitioners from Weichang County, Hebei Province was arrested and had their homes ransacked. Thirteen of them were later sentenced to between one and six years by the Luanping County Court.

Three Baoding City, Hebei Province residents were sentenced on February 26, 2020, for painting gourds with the words: “Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance.” Mr. Han Junde was sentenced to eight and a half years. Ms. Li Yanqiu and Ms. Sun Liying were both given 8 years. Mr. Han died in Jidong Prison on April 14, 2022, after he was denied medical parole despite his critical condition. He was 77.

Ms. Jiang Feng, of Baoding City, was arrested on April 22, 2020. She was secretly sentenced to five years on December 25, 2020, by the Gaoyang Court.

Ms. Liu Ruilian, who has a disabled leg, was arrested at home on July 1, 2020. Ms. Liu stood trial on August 27, 2020 and was sentenced to three years in prison on September 24. She appealed the verdict, but her appeal was rejected by the higher court. She was taken to the Shijiazhuang Women’s Prison on November 17.