(Minghui.org) It was recently confirmed that a 58-year-old man in Laohekou City, Hubei Province had been sentenced to four years for his faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual and meditation discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Mr. Shan Furong, a former employee of Jiangshan Machinery, was arrested on January 5, 2021, while distributing Falun Gong informational materials in nearby Gucheng County. His family only knew that he was taken to the Gucheng County Detention Center and has never received any updates on his case from the authorities.

An insider recently told the family that Mr. Shan is now serving time at the Fanjiatai Prison (located in Shayang County in Hubei Province) after his secret sentencing, adding that Mr. Shan had become blind in both eyes as a result of torture.

This is not the first time that Mr. Shan has been targeted for his faith. He was previously arrested multiple times and sentenced to four years following an arrest in 2015. His employer fired him after he was released in 2019. His wife could no longer cope and divorced him. His mother was dealt another blow when he was arrested again in 2021. She died in late 2022, at the age of 86, without seeing her son one last time.

Arrests Between 1999 and 2001

Mr. Shan went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong at the end of October 1999. He was arrested and taken to the Laohekou City’s Liaison Office in Beijing. Officers Xia Qixian, Ma Wanbin and Liu Shumin from the Jiangshan Police Branch of the Laohekou City Police Department picked him up from the liaison office. After escorting him back, they held him at the Laohekou City First Detention Center until early February 2000 (right before the Chinese New Year on February 5). Officers Ma and Wen Hong interrogated him with torture during his detention.

On June 28, 2000, Mr. Shan boarded a train to Beijing, but was intercepted at Xinxiang City, Henan Province. Officers Xia, Ma, and Liu again picked him up and took him back to be held at the Laohekou City First Detention Center. He was detained for more than 40 days and fined 5,500 yuan.

Shortly before the Chinese New Year in 2001 (January 24), Mr. Shan made plans to go to Beijing to appeal again. His employer found out about it and held him in an office for more than ten days, during which time they interrogated him with torture.

Mr. Shan was arrested again on April 13, 2001, by officers Ma and Xue Renshan from the Jiangshan Police Branch, as well as the Hongshanzui Police Station agents. They kept him at the Laohekou City First Detention Center for three months before taking him to the Xiangfan Labor Camp to serve a term of one year and three months.

The labor camp guards forced Mr. Shan to watch videos slandering Falun Gong and ordered him to write statements to renounce his faith. They also subjected him to various forms of abuse, including punching and kicking him, whipping him with PVC pipes, hitting him in the head with leather shoe heels, forcing him to bend over with his hands touching his toes, and ordering him to do hard labor such as digging foundations and moving bricks.

While the guards allowed other inmates to use a mosquito net during sleep, they forbade Mr. Shan to use it. He thus had many mosquito bites.

Mr. Shan was released on October 22, 2002.

Four-year Prison Sentence and Job Termination

Mr. Shan was arrested again at work on December 7, 2015 for filing a criminal complaint against Jiang Zemin, the former head of the communist regime who ordered the persecution. The police ransacked his home and confiscated his computer, printer, and 20,000 yuan in cash.

Mr. Shan was secretly sentenced to four years in Fanjiatai Prison in September 2016. The prison guards instigated inmates to torture him. He was often forced to stand for long hours, and was once deprived of sleep for three days.

After beating him on October 27, the guards kept him in solitary confinement for 15 days and then sent him to the intensive management team on November 10 and kept him there for three months.

Mr. Jiang’s employer fired him after he was released in 2019.

Related Reports:

Once Imprisoned for Four Years, Hubei Man Arrested and Faces Prosecution Again

Hubei Man Beaten in Prison, Gets the Word Out through a Messenger

Methods of Torture Used on Falun Gong Practitioners in Fanjiatai Prison