(Minghui.org) A 36-year-old Xingtai City, Hebei Province resident stood trial on February 23, 2023 for practicing Falun Gong and was later sentenced to 4.5 years. Mr. Zhao Can was admitted to prison in mid-July 2023, after his appeal was rejected by the Xingtai City Intermediate Court.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Mr. Zhao’s family went to the Tangshan City Second Prison in early October 2023 to visit him. The guards initially would not let them in, with the excuse that Mr. Zhao refused to renounce Falun Gong, but then relented upon seeing Mr. Zhao’s disabled mother. According to Mr. Zhao’s family, he appeared calm and said he was ordered to work in a garment-making sweatshop every day, without pay.
Mr. Zhao, a native of Li County, Hebei Province, landed a job in Xingtai City after graduating from college. He was arrested on July 15, 2021 and held at the Ningjin County Detention Center. Ningjin County is under the jurisdiction of Xingtai City.
The police initially told Mr. Zhao’s family that they would release him on July 30, 2021, but when his family went to the detention center that day to pick him up, the police handed them a notice saying that Mr. Zhao’s 15-day administrative detention had been extended to criminal detention.
Mr. Zhao’s family received a notice from the Ningjin County Court in late September 2022, announcing that he was scheduled to appear in court just days later on October 10. The family and his lawyer went to the court on time, only to be told by the judge that the hearing had been canceled and would be rescheduled within three months.
The family said they were very disappointed by the change. As they hadn’t been allowed to visit Mr. Zhao since his arrest a year before, they were very worried about him.
The court held a hearing of Mr. Zhao’s case on February 23, 2023. By then, he had been detained for one year and seven months.
Mr. Zhao recounted that after he was taken to the police station, several officers surrounded him, intimidated him and ordered him to renounce Falun Gong. After he was transferred to the detention center, a guard ordered the inmates to beat him. He was starved, deprived of sleep and denied restroom use. The inmates also hit his head with a shoe, slapped him in the face, and force-fed him cold water, which almost suffocated him.
During the first few months of Mr. Zhao’s detention, the guards kept calling his family, ordering them to make deposits for him. But Mr. Zhao never saw any money in his account, nor did he receive the clothes his family sent him.
After the hearing resumed following the lunch break, the judge asked Mr. Zhao whether he pleaded guilty. Mr. Zhao maintained that he was innocent. When he asked the judge which law he’d allegedly violated, the judge lowered his head and remained silent.
Moments later, the judge asked Mr. Zhao, “You have so many flash drives. Would you plead guilty if I sentenced you to four years and six months?”
At the request of Mr. Zhao’s lawyer, the judge exhibited the flash drives in court. The judge appeared to be surprised to see some electronic books on the flash drives. But it’s not clear what the books were.
The judge went on to say that the government has long decided to outlaw Falun Gong. But he stopped short of specifying which law stated so.
The judge announced Mr. Zhao’s verdict around late May 2023.
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