(Minghui.org) Four Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province residents were sentenced to prison in July 2022 for their faith in Falun Gong.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Mr. Tong Xuesheng, Ms. Sun Xiuli, Ms. Zhang Yongmei and Mr. Mai Kanglin were arrested on July 3, 2020 and held at the Tianhe Detention Center. After the police submitted their cases to the Haizhu District Procuratorate on October 29, the prosecutor twice returned their cases, citing insufficient evidence. The police refused to release them and submitted their cases for the third time on February 8, 2021. The prosecutor later indicted the practitioners.
The Haizhu District Court held a hearing of the four cases on November 2, 2021. The judge announced their verdicts in July 2022. Mr. Tong was given four years and the other three practitioners’ terms ranged from two to four years.
Mr. Tong, 38, began to practice Falun Gong in September 1997 when he was 13. Not long after, the short-tempered and foul-mouthed teen with many bad habits became a broad-minded and kind-hearted young man.
After the persecution started two years later, the then 16-year-old teenager went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong in March 2000. He was arrested and expelled by the Tianjin Light Industry College he was attending.
Mr. Tong was given one year of forced labor in 2001, after he was arrested again for returning to Beijing to appeal. Following his third arrest in 2005, the then 21-year-old man was sentenced to four years.
Because he refused to renounce Falun Gong, he was often handcuffed and beaten by the prison guards. He was once ordered to remain on the athletic field all day long, either standing or sitting, but not moving. The guards beat him if he moved. He was given a limited amount of water to drink despite the scorching sun. He was unable to sleep at night because of the mosquitoes.
Wu Yaoguang (邬耀广), former president of the Haizhu District Court and now judge of the Guangzhou City Intermediate Court: +86-13502400817, +86-18126766888
Guangdong Man Persecuted Since Age 16 Faces Indictment Again for His Faith