(Minghui.org) An 81-year-old man in Yantai City, Shandong Province, was forced to sit on a small stool for long hours every day while serving time for his faith in Falun Gong. Even though he passed out twice, the prison refused to release him.
Mr. Jia Yuhe’s three-year prison sentence stemmed from his arrest on January 17, 2018. Five officers from the Xiaomenjia Police Station broke into his home at 10 a.m. and took pictures of him. They drove him to the hospital for a physical exam, but he refused to cooperate. He was taken to the Penglai District Court at 2 p.m. to stand trial. Neither he nor his family was notified of the hearing. He was sentenced to three years that day.
Mr. Jia, born in November 1943, was allowed to go home after the sentencing. He submitted his appeal on January 23, 2018. The Yantai City Intermediate Court scheduled a hearing for March 9 that year but canceled it the day before.
Ten court bailiffs, including Zhang Hongfei, broke into Mr. Jia’s home in August 2018 and ordered him to come with them for a physical exam. When he refused to comply, they carried him to the hospital. He was sweating all over and couldn’t open his eyes. The doctors said they were unable to examine him. The bailiffs took him to a local prison, which declined to admit him due to his advanced age, so they took him home.
Seven years later on April 7, 2025, over 20 police officers and court bailiffs broke into his home at 6 a.m. and seized him. An ambulance was on standby. His family was notified on April 9 that he had been admitted to the Shandong Province Prison.
According to an insider, the guards forced Mr. Jia to sit on a small stool for long hours every day. His bottom festered and he passed out twice. The prison doctor had been taking his blood pressure every day but never revealed the readings. His family repeatedly requested his release but to no avail.
Mr. Jia took up Falun Gong in March 1999 and soon recovered from severe insomnia, memory loss, indigestion, numbness on the left side of his body, and chronic pain. He was able to do farm work again and learned to be more considerate of others.
After the communist regime started the persecution of Falun Gong in July 1999, Mr. Jia held firm to his faith and was arrested five times before his prison sentence in 2018. The five prior arrests were followed by two episodes of brainwashing center detention, one episode of detention center detention, and two episodes of lockup detention. While he was in custody, chief Zhou from the Xiaomenjia Police Station once beat him and officer Nie Xijun forced him to stand or squat for long hours.
To avoid further detention, Mr. Jia lived away from home for a year. After he returned to Jinan, the police extorted over 10,000 yuan from him. They eventually arrested him again on January 17, 2018, and got him sentenced to three years.