(Minghui.org) The Jiujiang City Intermediate Court in Jiangxi Province ruled in late February 2024 to uphold the ten-month prison sentence of a local resident for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Mr. Li Yilong (also known as Li Yingyi), 54, was sentenced to ten months in December 2023. After his appeal was denied, the trial court threatened to take him, who was out on bail, into custody. It is unclear whether he is back in custody at the time of this report.
Details of Mr. Li’s Latest Persecution
Mr. Li’s sentence stemmed from his arrest at his employer-provided dorm around 5 a.m. on June 16, 2022. Ruichang City Domestic Security Office agents confiscated his laptop, music player, cell phone, seven Falun Gong books, and his private car. They did not show a search warrant or give him a list of confiscated items as required by law.
The police took Mr. Li to the Pencheng Police Station in Ruichang City, about 30 miles from Jiujiang City. He was restrained in a metal chair and interrogated for more than 20 hours. Due to his poor health, he was released on bail two days later after he was denied admission by the Ruichang City Detention Center.
Officers Xiong Xiaoxiong, Liao Qiyang, and Du (first name unknown) from the Ruichang City Domestic Security Office arrested Mr. Li at work on July 6, 2023 and took him to the Yongxiu County Procuratorate. Both Yongxiu County and Ruichang City are under the administration of Jiujiang City.
Prosecutor Sun Xiaoyan and the police then took Mr. Li to the Yongxiu County Court and threatened to sentence him to jail. They next took him to the Jiujiang City Hospital for a physical examination. His systolic blood pressure was more than 200 mmHg and the Ruichang City Detention Center refused to admit him. Mr. Li was released on bail on the afternoon of July 7, 2023.
Mr. Li received a call from officer Xiong on September 7, 2023 and was ordered to report to the Yongxiu County Court the next day for a hearing. Xiong threatened to arrest him if he didn’t show up.
Mr. Li went to the court the next morning. The court appointed a lawyer to enter a guilty plea for him. His wife and a village official were allowed to observe the hearing.
Before the hearing started, the presiding judge demanded that Mr. Li sign statements to renounce Falun Gong. He said that he would only proceed with the hearing if Mr. Li signed the statements. He added that he would give Mr. Li a lighter sentence if he signed the documents, or else they would take him into custody that day. Mr. Li refused to comply or plead guilty. Just as he started to defend his innocence, the judge interrupted him and adjourned the hearing.
Mr. Li misunderstood and thought the end of that day’s hearing was a recess, so he waited. After two hours, the session did not resume. He then realized the hearing concluded for the day. He got ready to leave, but a judge spotted him and ordered him to return to the courtroom to wait without telling him what else was there for him to do that day. Mr. Li followed the judge’s order, only to lose consciousness and fall hard on the ground inside the courtroom shortly afterward due to mental stress. He didn’t regain consciousness for a long time. The court did not call for medical assistance or call an ambulance. Mr. Li returned home later that day.
Mr. Li was summoned to the court on December 2, 2023. He went there with his wife. Judge Zhang Lingling handed him a ten-month prison sentence and a 4,000-yuan fine. The judges who signed the verdict included Cai Mengyi, Jiang Ying, Zhong Guobiao, and Hu Qin. Mr. Li refused to sign the verdict when judge Zhang told him to. He appealed the verdict to the Jiujiang City Intermediate Court.
The Jiujiang City Procuratorate sent a prosecutor to talk to Mr. Li and he recounted how the police, including officer Xiong, fabricated evidence against him. The prosecutor wrote down Mr. Li’s testimony against the police.
Officer Xiong ordered Mr. Li to sign some paperwork at the end of 2023. He refused and said he was fully aware of how Xiong and other officers fabricated evidence against him. Xiong appeared shocked and left.
The Yongxiu County Court called Mr. Li at the end of February 2024 to relay the Jiujiang City Intermediate Court’s ruling to uphold his original verdict. The caller threatened to take him into custody.
Past Persecution
This is not the first time that Mr. Li has been targeted for his faith. While working in Shanghai, he was harassed by the local police station. His boss called the police to say he was a good person who never did anything bad. He quit his job because he didn’t want his boss to be implicated. He returned to Jiujiang afterwards.
The Pengcheng Police Station in Ruichang City arrested Mr. Li on the night of April 4, 2004 after spotting him distributing informational materials about Falun Gong. He managed to escape at noon the next day and later wrote a letter to Zhou Zuolin, head of the 610 Office in the police station, urging the latter to stop persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. He signed his full name on the letter and became a target. They arrested him again on April 14, 2009, with the help from officers Wei Qiang and Wang Yijin from the Jiujiang City Domestic Security Office and a few agents from the Yongquan Police Station.
Mr. Li was taken to the Yongquan Police Station and handcuffed to a window frame. About an hour later, he was driven to the Ruichang City Detention Center. He went on a hunger strike in protest and was taken to the Ruichang City Hospital seven days later for force feeding. The guards told the doctors to force feed him whatever way they wanted, as long as they kept him alive.
After eight months of detention, Mr. Li was released on December 13, 2009.
Related Reports:
Jiujiang City, Jiangxi Province: One Resident Sentenced to Prison, Another Awaits Verdict
Jiangxi Man on Trial for Practicing Falun Gong Faints While Waiting for Judge's Instruction
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