(Minghui.org) The Beijing Intermediate Court ruled in mid-March 2024 to uphold the wrongful convictions of two locals for their faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Mr. Shi Yingji, 49, was sentenced to four years with an 8,000-yuan fine. Ms. Hu Xiaolu, 70, were given two and a half years with a 4,000-yuan fine.
Mr. Shi is currently held at the Yanqing District Detention Center in Beijing. It is unclear when Ms. Hu, who had been out on bail, will be taken back into custody to serve time.
Arrests and Sentencing
Mr. Shi and Ms. Hu, both residents of Yongning Town, Yanqing District, Beijing were arrested at the former’s home on May 11, 2023, by agents from the Yongning Town Police Station. None of the officers wore uniforms, showed their IDs, or produced a search warrant. When Mr. Shi demanded to know their identities, they replied, “That is classified.”
The police also did not give Mr. Shi a list of confiscated items as required by law. They took him to the Yanqing District Detention Center, where he remains at the time of writing. Ms. Hu and another Falun Gong practitioner, Ms. Nie Jinying, who also happened to be visiting Mr. Shi, were both seized but later released on bail. There is no further information regarding Ms. Nie’s case status.
The Yanqing District Procuratorate indicted Mr. Shi and Ms. Hu and submitted their joint case to the Yanqing District Court on September 16, 2023. They stood trial on October 31 and were both sentenced in early December 2023.
This is not the first time that the two practitioners have been targeted for their faith. Mr. Shi was previously twice jailed for a total of eight years. Ms. Hu served two years of forced labor and another two years in prison.
Mr. Shi Sentenced to 6 Years in 2006 and 2 Years in 2020
Mr. Shi used to work for the local railroad system. He took up Falun Gong in 1996, after witnessing how his father, Mr. Shi Genshu, recovered from many ailments from doing the practice. After the persecution started in 1999, both the father and son faced repeated arrests and harassment for their faith.
Mr. Shi Genshu was deceived into going to the Yongning Police Station in 2000, where he was forced to stand for long hours and work for two weeks without pay. The police chief beat him from time to time. Mr. Shi was also fined 500 yuan.
Mr. Shi Yingji, on the other hand, faced pressure at work for not renouncing Falun Gong. For sending information about Falun Gong online during the Chinese Communist Party’s 16th Congress in 2002, he was arrested and fired by his workplace.
After Mr. Shi Yingji escaped an arrest attempt on April 22, 2004, officers of the Yanqing County Domestic Security Office raided his home without a search warrant. His computer and two printers were confiscated. The police put him on the wanted list, forcing him to live away from home, even when his son was only two and a half years old. His parents were frequently harassed during this time.
Mr. Shi was arrested on June 28, 2006. He was beaten by the police at the Yanqing County Domestic Security Office. After being taken to Yanqing County Detention Center, he held a hunger strike and was beaten by the deputy director You, who also kept him handcuffed behind his back. On the fourth night, he was taken to the Yanqing County Chinese Hospital for IV drips. The police chained his limbs to the bed for the entire night. On the next morning, he was transferred to the Beijing Police Hospital and shackled to the bed for a month.
On August 2, the police put him under house arrest. Instead of releasing him, they held him at the Yanqing County Hospital and arranged four people to monitor him around the clock. He was transferred to the Beijing City Detention Center after his arrest was approved on September 19, 2006 and taken back to the Yanqing County Detention Center two months later.
The Yanqing County Court sentenced Mr. Shi to six years on May 18, 2007 without informing his family. He appealed with the Beijing First Intermediate Court. The presiding judge Jia Lianchun ruled to uphold his verdict on August 17, 2007 without having a hearing. He was transferred to the Jinzhong Prison on September 13, 2007. Weeks later in October 2007, his father, who had been working tirelessly to seek justice for him, suffered a stroke and subsequent hemiplegia.
Mr. Shi was taken to the Qianjin Prison in May 2008. As he refused to renounce Falun Gong, the guards held him in an isolated room, where he was forced to sit on a small stool without moving for hours on end. The only time he was allowed to stand up was during meal times or restroom breaks. Several inmates were arranged by the guards to monitor him around the clock. He was also forced to read books or watch videos smearing Falun Gong at the same time. The prolong sitting torture caused him to develop anal fistula. The pain was so intense that he couldn’t squat.
Unable to bear the pressure from the persecution, Mr. Shi’s wife divorced him in October 2008.
Mr. Shi was released on August 14, 2012 after his term was extended for 48 days. To make a living, he opened a computer accessory shop in 2013, only to be arrested again on July 18, 2013 by Jiang Shuliang, the head of the Yanqing County Domestic Security Office and his subordinates. The police raided his shop when no one else was present, confiscating a desktop computer, a laptop, a printer, a laminator, four hard drives, and two cell phones. He was released on bail after 37 days at the Yanqing County Detention Center.
Mr. Shi was arrested another time on April 14, 2015 as soon as he left a friend’s home after a visit. Officers from the Kangzhuang Police Station confiscated a hard drive and eight flash drives that he had with him. After two weeks at the Haidian District Detention Center, he was transferred to the Changping District Brainwashing Center on April 30 and held there for 26 days. Not long after, he was arrested again on July 20, 2015 and held at the Yanqing County Detention Center for a week.
Mr. Shi was arrested again on March 7, 2017, while on his way home from a trip to Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province. He was held in a brainwashing center for three days.
During a business trip to Qingdao City, Shandong Province, he was arrested on May 29, 2018 prior to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit. The authorities in Qingdao and its neighboring cities launched large-scale arrests of local Falun Gong practitioners in attempts to prevent them from going to the public to expose the persecution of their faith. He was held at the Qingdao Railroad Detention Center and released after an unknown amount of time.
Mr. Shi was arrested by officers of the Xihongmen Township Police Station in Daxing District, Beijing, on February 28, 2019. He was detained at the Dawa Detention Center in Daxing District and had his arrest formally approved on April 4 of that year. The Daxing District Procuratorate indicted him in January 2020. He stood trial at Daxing District Court on November 5 and was sentenced to two years with a 5,000-yuan fine in late December 2020.
Mr. Shi was released on February 27, 2021, only to be arrested in 2023 and given a third prison term.
Ms. Hu Given 2 Years of Forced Labor in 2005 and 2 Years of Prison in 2020
Ms. Hu is a retired teacher. She took up Falun Gong in 1998 and soon recovered from her numerous illnesses, including neurasthenia, gynecological inflammation, gastric ulcer, dizziness, and insomnia. She also became more outgoing and upbeat.
She was arrested at her school on September 26, 2002 and taken to a brainwashing center. Three people were assigned to monitor her around the clock. They even followed her to the restroom. She was also forced to watch anti-Falun Gong videos.
In April 2005, the police arrested Ms. Hu at her school again. They raided her office and home. She was held at a local detention center for a while before being given two years of forced labor.
Ms. Hu was forced to do hard labor without pay at the labor camp. The guards there also subjected her to various forms to torture. She was once forced to squeeze her body into a children’s chair and sit for more than 10 hours every day for more than three months. The guards sometimes also forced her to stand for long hours on end without sleep.
Ms. Hu was arrested again in May 2020 and sentenced to two years later that year.
Related Reports:
Beijing Man Convicted Again for His Faith After Six Years of Imprisonment and Multiple Arrests
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