(Minghui.org) Mr. Fan Zhigang and his wife Ms. Su Shuang in Huludao City, Liaoning Province, were sentenced to prison on December 29, 2020, for their faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Mr. Fan was arrested on April 15, 2020. The police ransacked his home and also arrested his wife, Ms. Su. The couple's computer, printer, and other Falun Gong items were confiscated.
The couple was indicted by the Lianshan District Procuratorate on October 27. They were tried in the Lianshan District Court on December 10. Mr. Fan’s lawyer and his 78-year-old mother defended his innocence in court.
The judge announced the verdicts on December 29, 2020: Mr. Fan was sentenced to 2.5 years and fined 10,000 yuan and Ms. Su was sentenced to nine months.
Prior to their latest sentences, the couple has been repeatedly arrested and incarcerated in the past two decades for their faith.
Mr. Fan was put on the police’s wanted list for distributing Falun Gong materials in 2001 and forced to live away from home. Both he and Ms. Su were later fired from the local zinc factory where they worked.
Ms. Su was arrested in October 2003 and given 1.5 years in Masanjia Forced Labor Camp.
On October 17, 2008, the couple was arrested again and their home was ransacked. Ms. Su was released that evening, but Mr. Fan was taken to the Suizhong Detention Center. He held a hunger strike to protest the persecution and was released on bail 35 days later. He was emaciated and very weak at the time of his release.
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