(Minghui.org) It was recently confirmed by Minghui.org that a Tangyin County, Henan Province resident was taken to the Xinmi City Prison on July 1, 2023 to serve a seven-year term for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Mr. Wang Chaojie, 37, a teacher at Tangyin County First Middle School, was arrested outside the school gate on March 14, 2022. The arresting officers included Cheng Hua, head of the Wenfeng District Domestic Security Office; Dou Zhimin, Zhang Xuelong, and Zhang Jun, deputy heads of the Wenfeng District Domestic Security Office; and officers Li Wenzhuo and Zhang Jian.

Hou Shangfa, secretary of the Wenfeng District Political and Legal Affairs Committee (an extra-judicial agency tasked with overseeing the persecution of Falun Gong), ordered that Mr. Wang be taken to a brainwashing center. He was held there for two weeks and released on bail on April 1, 2022.

Xu Zhiqiang, the principal of Tangyin County First Middle School, and Tong Yunfeng, the principal of the school’s north campus, didn’t allow Mr. Wang to go back to teaching for an unknown period of time after his release. 

Meanwhile, the police constantly harassed Mr. Wang and his family. Officer Li called his family twice, on May 18 and 19, 2022, ordering him to go to the Wenfeng District Police Department for a deposition. It’s not clear whether he complied.

Around 8 a.m. on June 1, 2022, Mr. Wang was harassed and interrogated again at home by officers Dou, Wu Shangjian, Zhang Xuelong, Zhang Lijing and two whose names aren’t known. They ordered him to sign the deposition and threatened to terminate his job if he didn’t comply.

Mr. Wang was interrogated at the school around 8:30 a.m. on June 10, 2022, by officers Cheng, Zhang Xuelong and Zhang Lizhou. He refused to sign the interrogation record. The police then went to his home, but his family refused to let them in.

Mr. Wang was arrested again by officers from the Wenfeng District Domestic Security Office on June 16, 2022 and held at the Anyang City Detention Center. He was indicted around November 2022 and had his case moved to the Anyang City Court. 

It was recently confirmed that Mr. Wang was sentenced to seven years and fined 50,000 yuan by the Anyang City Court in 2023 (exact date unknown). The court garnished all the funds in his pension account to pay for his fine and also forced his family to cover the balance of the fine. Mr. Wang was taken to the Xinmi City Prison on July 1, 2023 and is now held in the Ninth Division.