(Minghui.org) The Mudanjiang City Intermediate Court in Heilongjiang Province ruled on June 27, 2024, to uphold the four-year prison sentence of a local man because he practices Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Mr. Zhao Jun, who was out on bail due to persistent high-blood pressure, was taken back into custody on July 9, 2024. Since he did not meet the prison admission requirements, the authorities are keeping him in a police hospital. They plan to transfer him to a prison as soon as his health improves.
This is not the first time that Mr. Zhao has been targeted for his faith. He was previously arrested in 2001 and brutally tortured by the police. His right arm became permanently disabled as a result. He was later sentenced to seven years in prison.
Latest Arrest and Prison Sentence
Mr. Zhao was arrested on February 14, 2021, while talking to a young man about Falun Gong at a city plaza. Two officers brought him to the Xin’an Police Station. Police chief Wang Xin identified him through the CCP’s facial recognition database.
The police raided Mr. Zhao’s home and confiscated over 30 Falun Gong books and a portrait of Li Hongzhi, Falun Gong’s founder. Police chief Wang gave Mr. Zhao a 15-day detention, but the local detention center refused to take him due to the COVID-19 outbreak. He was then released on bail.
The police forced Mr. Zhao to have a physical exam in early December 2022 in an attempt to detain him, but he was denied admission again due to high blood pressure. They released him on house arrest. Not long after, Mr. Zhao was deposed by a prosecutor, who asked whether he admitted he was guilty of practicing Falun Gong. Mr. Zhao replied that he was innocent. He was released later that day.
Mr. Zhao mailed a letter to prosecutor Zhang Nianhui of the Aimin District Procuratorate on March 14, 2023, urging him not to participate in the persecution. He did not sign his name in the letter. Two officers showed up at his home one week later and took him to the procuratorate. Prosecutor Zhang questioned him, and asked if he mailed the letter and he said yes. Zhang then told him that the procuratorate had not received the case from the police yet.
The two officers next took Mr. Zhao for a physical examination. After that, they drove him straight to the local detention center, which did their own checkup of Mr. Zhao and refused to admit him when they found he had high blood pressure. The police sent him home.
Prosecutor Zhang indicted Mr. Zhao in late 2023. He stood trial at the Aimin District Court on April 12, 2024. The presiding judge, Jiang Bingbing, constantly interrupted him during his defense argument.
Judge Jiang and a police officer went to Mr. Zhao’s home on April 26. The judge announced that he would sentence Mr. Zhao to four years with a 10,000-yuan fine. Mr. Zhao refused to sign the verdict when Jiang ordered him to. He told Jiang that he would appeal the sentence and Jiang said he had ten days to do so.
The Mudanjiang Intermediate Court rejected Mr. Zhao’s appeal on June 27 without holding a hearing. He was soon notified that he was scheduled to be taken to the local police hospital on July 9 for treatment in preparation for his prison admission. The police came that day as scheduled and he is now still held at the hospital.
Previous Seven-Year Prison Sentence
On February 24, 2001, back when Mr. Zhao was in his 40s, he was arrested at home by Xie Chunsheng, the chief of Nanshan Police Station, and Miao Qiang, the deputy chief. Not allowing him to change his slippers, the police dragged him to their cruiser and took him to the police station.
That night, Mr. Zhao was subjected to three rounds of having his arms bound behind his back with a chain and he fainted as a result. To wake him up, the police scraped his ribs with coins and inserted bamboo sticks into his fingertips. His arms became severely swollen and the nerves around his right armpit were permanently damaged.
Torture reenactment: The tying torture
As Mr. Zhao remained firm in his faith, the police seized his son, Mr. Zhao Dan, who didn’t practice Falun Gong, from school. They handcuffed the teenager to the heating pipes and didn’t allow him to use the restroom. They forced him to provide information about his father’s practicing of Falun Gong by threatening to sentence him to three years. Because of his testimony, his father was sentenced to seven years and not allowed to appeal the verdict.
Mr. Zhao Jun’s sister, Ms. Zhao Guiling, also a practitioner, was tortured by officer Miao as well. She was tied up and force-fed mustard oil. After being tortured for more than ten days, she gave in and admitted guilt in practicing Falun Gong. When she appeared in court over ten months later, the scars on her arms and shoulder from the torture were still visible. It’s not clear whether she was sentenced.
Related Report:
Once Jailed 7 Years, Heilongjiang Man Gets Another Four Years for Talking to People about Falun Gong
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