(Minghui.org) A Qishan County, Shaanxi Province resident was taken to the Yangling Prison in early July 2021 and transferred to the Weinan Prison a month later to serve a seven-year term for his faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
It has been reported that Mr. Shen Hongqi was found to have high blood pressure and is now forced to take blood pressure medicine.
Mr. Shen, an appliance repair shop owner, was arrested on July 22, 2019. The police ransacked his two residences and confiscated many of his personal belongings. He was interrogated in a hotel for four days while being tied in a metal chair.
Mr. Shen’s mother was so traumatized by the arrest that she suffered a stroke and was hospitalized. She requested several times to see her son again before she died, but the authorities never granted it.
Mr. Shen was tried by the Qishan County Court on August 18, 2020 and sentenced to seven years with a 14,000 yuan fine on November 30, 2020. He appealed the verdict, but the higher court ruled to uphold his original verdict.
Before Mr. Shen was sentenced, a friend of his wrote to Minghui.org, testifying to his character and calling for his release.
The friend said that everyone who knows Mr. Shen would agree that he is a good person. He helps repair appliances in our village and is very knowledgeable in many areas.
When Mr. Shen first began to practice Falun Gong, one of the two pigs he raised contracted the swine flu, and so did many pigs of his fellow villagers. When vendors came to buy pigs in the village, they also offered a few hundred yuan for the villagers’ swine-flu-stricken pigs. While some villagers sold their sick pigs, Mr. Shen rejected the offer. The vendors returned a few more times, trying to buy his pig. Mr. Shen insisted that he couldn’t do things to harm others to further his own interest. The vendors were touched and said they would get to know more about Falun Gong.
When Mr. Shen’s daughter was in college, there was limited financial aid, though many students met the criteria. Her school had to issue the aid on a rotating basis each year. His daughter finally got her turn one year for 3,000 yuan but was sad that another girl, who had received the aid many times before, would have to drop out of school because she did not get it this time.
With no hesitation, Mr. Shen persuaded his daughter to give up her turn to help the girl who desperately needed the money to stay in school. His daughter, having known from her father how Falun Gong teaches people to be considerate of others, concurred and managed to finish school and land a good job after graduation.
At home, Mr. Shen also took good care of his elderly father until he passed away a few years ago in his 90s.
Related reports:Ten Shaanxi Residents Convicted for Their Faith
Appliance Repair Shop Owner Sentenced to Seven Years
Updates on the 11 Falun Gong Practitioners Arrested in Qishan County, Shaanxi Province, in July 2019
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Category: Accounts of Persecution
