(Minghui.org) A Fushun City, Liaoning Province resident was sentenced to four years with 1,000-yuan fine on April 21, 2021, for his faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Mr. Xu Dewu was arrested on October 21, 2020, for distributing informational materials about Falun Gong. He was taken to the Xinbin County Detention Center on the same day and soon had his arrest approved by the Shuncheng District Procuratorate.

Prosecutors Li Xiaojing and Shang Changfa issued an indictment against Mr. Xu on January 5, 2021, two months after the police submitted his case.

Mr. Xu was tried at the detention center by the Shuncheng District Court on March 9, 2021. Before the hearing started, a bailiff had tried to block his family defender from entering the courtroom.

Prosecutor Li and another prosecutor named Zhang Mingyu attended the hearing. The prosecution evidence used to charge Mr. Xu included only photos of Falun Gong materials that the prosecutor claimed to have been removed from his car. Mr. Xu denied that the materials were his, and the witness who reported him didn’t appear in court to be cross-examined.

Mr. Xu’s family defender requested several times for the prosecutor to present the actual materials in court, as the photos themselves couldn’t show how Mr. Xu had allegedly violated the law or caused harm to anyone. The family defender also presented a notice issued by the Chinese publication bureau that lifted its ban on Falun Gong literature in 2011.

The two prosecutors attempted to pressure the bailiff to remove Mr. Xu’s family defender from the courtroom. The presiding judge, Feng Yan, also constantly interrupted Mr. Xu’s family defender as he entered a not-guilty plea for him.

The family defender refused to sign the court proceedings at the end of the hearing.

Mr. Xu is now appealing the sentence after he received the verdict on April 21.