(Minghui.org) An 81-year-old man found himself with no pension or place to live after he was released from a 4-year imprisonment for refusing to renounce Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline being persecuted by the Chinese communist regime.
Prior to his latest imprisonment, Mr. Luo Zhenggui, a retired government official in Gulin County, had already served 3.5 years between 2004 and 2007 for refusing to give up his faith.
The police came for him again in 2009. Though he managed to escape, the local authorities moved to confiscate his apartment unit and suspend his pension. Mr. Luo was forced to move from one place to another, until he was arrested again in 2012 and given a second prison sentence.
Mr. Luo has filed a request with the local authorities to have his pension restored and his apartment returned. He is also in the process of filing a criminal complaint against former Chinese dictator Jiang Zemin for initiating the persecution of Falun Gong that resulted in his ordeal.
Legal Procedure Violations Precede Both Prison Sentences
Mr. Luo’s prison sentences followed trials filled with legal procedure violations on the part of the police, the procuratorate, and the court.
The police failed to produce search warrants or IDs while arresting and ransacking Mr. Luo’s home.
Both times the procuratorate charged him with using a cult to undermine law enforcement, a standard pretext used by the Chinese communist regime to frame and imprison practitioners. He argued that no law in China criminalizes Falun Gong and that he should never have been prosecuted for exercising his constitutional right to freedom of belief.
The prosecution evidence was questionable. For instance, when he was arrested in 2012, Zhang Xianwen, head of Gulin Domestic Security Office, deceived him into signing a document that incriminated him. The court later used it as evidence to sentence him.
By law, the defendants are given the right to be read or review court proceedings so as to request any necessary changes. Mr. Luo, however, was never given a chance to review court proceedings.
Repeated Appeal Unanswered
Mr. Luo filed a complaint against the local procuratorate and court after he was first sentenced in 2004. He never received a response.
After he was arrested in 2012, the court labeled him as being a likely repeat offender, citing his previous imprisonment. He wrote a letter to the judge explaining that his first prison sentence lacked legal basis. He urged the judge to not make the same mistake of sentencing innocent people for committing no crime.
The judge still sentenced him to 4 years. Mr. Luo appealed to Luzhou City Intermediate Court but was turned down.
Mr. Luo submitted an appeal to Sichuan Province People’s Superior Court on July 6, 2015, but there has not been a response thus far.
Wife Also Suffers for Faith
Mr. Luo’s wife, Ms. Zhang Ziqin, also practices Falun Gong. Like her husband, she has also been repeatedly arrested and imprisoned. As the couple has no steady income, they struggle to make ends meet.
Related Reports:Gulin Court in Sichuan Illegally Sentences Three Falun Gong Practitioners to Prison
Three Falun Gong Practitioners Defend Themselves in Court, Plead Not Guilty
Account of a Trial Moved from a Courthouse to a Detention Center, Then Postponed
Entire Family Devastated as Grandfather, Mr. Luo Zhenggui, is Tortured in Guangyuan Prison
Ms. Zhang Ziqin's Family Suffers Persecution in Luzhou City and Cannot Return Home
