(Minghui.org) Mr. Xia Hongmin’s loved ones were surprised to find out in May 2023 that he had been taken to Jidong Prison to serve a 1.5-year term for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999. They had never been informed of his trial so they never got a chance to hire a lawyer for him.
Mr. Xia, 67, from Laishui County, Hebei Province, was arrested on July 8, 2022, while talking to people at a community fair about Falun Gong.
While the police released Mr. Xia hours later, they arrested him again the next morning at the construction site where he worked and took him to the Laishui County Lockup. He was given 15 days of administrative detention, but his family never received any official notice. On July 13, his family was ordered to come to the police station to pick up his motorcycle that was confiscated during his arrest on July 8.
When Mr. Xia’s administrative detention expired on July 23, 2022, the police refused to release him and gave him another 11 days of criminal detention and fined him 600 yuan.
After the 11 days of criminal detention also expired, the police continued to hold Mr. Xia in the Laishui County Detention Center and submitted his case to the Laishui County Procuratorate. The prosecutor later transferred his case to the Zhuozhou City Procuratorate, which indicted him and moved his case to the Zhuozhou City Court.
When Mr. Xia’s family called the detention center in May 2023, they were shocked to hear that he had been transferred to Jidong Prison on April 18.
The family called judge Xie Wenhai of the Zhuozhou City Court, who told them that Mr. Xia had been sentenced to 1.5 years on March 31, 2023. Xie said that they didn’t inform the family of his trial or conviction because he didn’t have a lawyer. The family hasn’t received any formal notice from the prison concerning Mr. Xia’s incarceration either.
The Zhuozhou City Procuratorate and Zhuozhou City Court have been designated to handle all Falun Gong cases in Baoding City. Since 2019, at least four other practitioners in Laishui County have been sentenced. Ms. Lu Guifen was sentenced to five years, Mr. Chen Shuyi to four years, Ms. Song Shuhua to 20 months, and Ms. Liu Yumin to three years with four years probation.
Leng Zhenyu (冷振宇), director of the Laishui County Police Department: +86-13932221889, +86-312-4528726Wang Jinqiao (王金桥), secretary of the Laishui County Political and Legal Affairs Committee: +86-13833083083Wei Yang (魏阳), president of the Zhuozhou City Procuratorate: +86-312-3852822, +86-312-8638361Wang Hui (王辉), president of the Zhuozhou City Court: +86-312-3852325
(More perpetrators’ contact information is available in the original Chinese article.)
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