(Minghui.org) A 75-year-old resident of Guanghan City, Sichuan Province was sentenced to one year with a 3,000-yuan fine on June 30, 2023, for his faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Mr. Liu Mingde was arrested at home on September 29, 2022, after a surveillance camera recorded him distributing Falun Gong informational materials in nearby Shifang City the day before. The four arresting officers from the Shifang City Police Department also confiscated his Falun Gong book and some informational materials. They took him to the local police station for interrogation. He was released hours later, only to be arrested and taken to the same police station again on October 30, 2022.
Mr. Liu was released later, though the exact date was unknown.
Several people from the Shifang City Police Department and the Shifang City Procuratorate came to Mr. Liu’s home on March 1, 2023. They said that his case was considered a minor case and thus didn’t call for a prison sentence. As long as he signed the paperwork they prepared, they’d only give him a six-month house arrest or other lighter punishments. Mr. Liu fell victim to their deceit and signed the paperwork without being allowed to read what was written there.
The Shifang City Court sentenced Mr. Liu to one year on June 30, 2023. He realized that the paperwork he signed had been used as evidence against him. The details of his trial remain unknown.
Mr. Liu was allowed to serve time outside of prison but prohibited from going to Shifang City during his one-year term.
This is not the first time that Mr. Liu has been persecuted for his faith.
In early 2001, the Guanghan City 610 Office set up brainwashing centers across its subordinate towns and villages, and more than 100 local Falun Gong practitioners were taken to those facilities at one point or another. Mr. Liu was held at the Xigao Town Brainwashing Center from early January to late April that year.
Mr. Liu and other practitioners were subjected to abuse during their detention. They were beaten, verbally abused, deprived of sleep, body searched, or forced to listen to loud noises for extended periods of time. They were only given two meals each day in the beginning. Each meal only had a bit of porridge with napa cabbage or Chinese radish blanched in salt water. The practitioners were later given three meals a day, but it was still the same porridge.
Most practitioners were also extorted a large sum of money. Mr. Liu was forced to pay 4,000 yuan before he was released. Some practitioners had to pay up to 6,500 yuan before they were released.
Mr. Liu was arrested again on June 20, 2011, and taken to the same brainwashing center. After 16 days there, he was transferred to the Guanghan City Detention Center, where he was held for 237 days.
On the afternoon of March 30, 2012, Mr. Liu was making bamboo chairs at home when three officers broke in and arrested him. They punched and kicked him during the arrest. He was taken to the Guanghan City Detention Center that night.
The detention center guards beat Mr. Liu savagely and didn’t give him any food or water for some time.
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