Devout Lay Buddhist Turned Falun Gong Practitioner Sentenced to Eight Years in Prison for His Faith

(Minghui.org) A 34-year-old resident of Chengdu City, Sichuan Province was arrested on June 8, 2021, after being reported for putting up Falun Gong posters while delivering food. After nearly two years in custody, Mr. Qu Xing was sentenced to eight years in prison and fined 30,000 yuan on February 15, 2023 by the Gaoxin District Court.

Mr. Qu is a native of Shenyang City, Liaoning Province. He had been interested in spiritual cultivation since his teens. He studied Buddhism and also went to Tibet to learn Tantrism. He later went to Nepal and tried to study under a famous monk. The monk didn’t specify whether he would take Mr. Qu as a disciple, but kept him in the monastery for over a year. Mr. Qu lived in a bamboo tent and lived a very simple life.

In 2018, he came across Falun Gong on the Internet. He was very excited after reading Zhuan Falun, the main text of Falun Gong. He said Falun Gong was exactly what he had been looking for. He told the monk that he had decided to practice Falun Gong. The monk was very happy for him.

Mr. Qu thus moved back to China. After a brief stop in Chengdu, he liked the city and decided to stay here.

In Chengdu, Mr. Qu befriended “Sunshine,” another young Falun Gong practitioner. They often went out together to distribute Falun Gong materials and clarify the facts about the persecution. Due to safety issues, “Sunshine” didn’t share with Mr. Qu his real name or address. Mr. Qu only knew that “Sunshine” was a native of Hunan Province.

In July 2020, “Sunshine” told Mr. Qu that he had found himself being monitored and targeted. The authorities had cut off his power and water and he had decided to seek justice for himself. Since then, Mr. Qu never heard back from “Sunshine” again. A year later, Mr. Qu was also arrested himself and has since bee held in custody.

When the news broke that 30-year-old Mr. Pang Xun had been beaten to death at Jiazhou Prison on December 2, 2022 while serving a five-year term for spreading information about the persecution, Mr. Qu’s mother, Ms. Xu Yanping, recognized that he was “Sunshine.”

The Gaoxin District Court held a trial of Mr. Qu’s case on February 15, 2023. His mother wasn’t allowed to represent him in court or attend the session. Although Mr. Qu’s lawyer was allowed into the courtroom, the judge forbade him from talking. Most of the seats in the gallery were occupied by government officials.

According to Mr. Qu’s lawyer, Mr. Qu appeared to be exceptionally calm on that day. He tried to explain how the communist regime slandered Falun Gong with the Tiananmen self-immolation hoax, but the judge and the prosecutor refused to listen. The judge announced the heavy term against him at the end of the trial.

Related report:

34-year-old Man Sentenced to Eight Years for Practicing Falun Gong