(Minghui.org) A resident of Huludao City, Liaoning Province filed an appeal after he was sentenced to four years and fined 20,000 yuan on May 18, 2023, for publishing articles on overseas Falun Gong websites.
It was recently confirmed that the Shenyang City Intermediate Court has docketed Mr. Gong Yubo’s appeals case, with Xiong Xianglai assigned as the presiding judge.
Targeted By Internet Police Long Before Arrest
Since the Chinese Communist Party began to persecute Falun Gong, a mind-body practice based on the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, in July 1999, Liaoning authorities have been paying close attention to Minghui.org and PureInsight.org, both websites founded by Falun Gong practitioners outside of China.
Liaoning established a special task force dubbed “Team 104” in 2019 at the order of the Ministry of Public Security to monitor and sabotage the above two websites and other Falun Gong practitioner-run websites. The task force was housed under the Shenyang City Police Department (Shenyang is the capital of Liaoning) and led by the department’s internet security team. Officers Li Anfu, Xiao Tianhao, and Fang were confirmed to be part of the task force.
“Team 104” determined that a prolific author publishing on Minghui and PureInsight with the pen names of “Xiao Lian,” “Shi Fangxing,” “Lan Xin” and “Yu Bo” was Mr. Gong. As his articles attracted a lot of views, the police monitored him closely as he kept publishing on the two websites.
Arrest, Indictment, and Sentencing
Mr. Gong was arrested on January 21, 2022, nine days before the 2022 Chinese New Year.
The police kept him in a hotel for the next six months without informing his family of his whereabouts. He was then given criminal detention on July 20, 2022, and transferred to the Xinmin City Detention Center.
The Liaozhong District Procuratorate in Shenyang City indicted Mr. Gong on December 6, 2022, and the Liaozhong District Court convicted him on May 18, 2023.
The prosecution evidence included 208 articles Mr. Gong published on the PureInsight website and 3 articles on the Minghui website, between 2002 and 2022.
Mr. Gong argued that these articles were simply sharing the insights he gained from practicing Falun Gong and caused no harm to anyone or society at large. As such, he should never have been sentenced for exercising his right to publish.
He submitted his appeal to the trial court, which recently forwarded it to the Shenyang City Intermediate Court. (In China, appeals are submitted to trial courts to forward to appeals courts.)
Motivation for Writing Articles
During his court hearing on May 18, 2023, Mr. Gong explained how he encountered Falun Gong and why he wrote articles in the first place.
He said that he ran into some Falun Gong practitioners at a park in 1996 when he was 18. They gave him a copy of Zhuan Falun, the main teachings of Falun Gong, to read.
Mr. Gong was immediately drawn to the profound principles discussed in the book, which he said opened his heart and broadened his mind. He had always felt that there was more to life than just living, but none of the books he read before Zhuan Falun answered his many whys about life. Zhuan Falun taught him to be a good and better person by following the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.
Then a student, Mr. Gong was already worried about what would become of society, having seen many people, including his classmates, with moral depravity. Falun Gong gave him hope. He said, “If everyone tries to be a good person, then society will become better and prosper.”
An avid reader since he was young, Mr. Gong also enjoyed writing. He decided to write articles to share the insights he gained from practicing Falun Gong. His hope was to uplift others and encourage them to be better people.
He urged judge Duan Xiaoguang to uphold justice, but Duan still convicted him at the end of the hearing.
Related Reports:
Sole Breadwinner Arrested for His Faith, Detained Incommunicado for Two Months and Counting
Communist Regime Prosecutor: “A Falun Gong Case Is More Severe Than Murder or Arson”
Liaoning Man Sentenced to Four Years for Publishing Articles on Overseas Falun Gong Websites
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