Shandong Man Gets Three Years for Upholding the Faith That Made His Incurable Eye Condition Go Away

(Minghui.org) A man in Yantai City, Shandong Province, was sentenced to three years in prison in early July 2022, for distributing information about his faith. His mother, nearly 80, is trying to appeal the verdict for him.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that was first introduced to the public in May 1992 and soon attracted millions of practitioners drawn to its spiritual guidance and health benefits. Due to its unprecedented popularity, in July 1999 the Chinese Communist Party enacted policies to eradicate Falun Gong from China, and the persecution continues to this day.

Mr. Yu Jianchun was diagnosed with “recurrent retinal vitreous hemorrhage” when he was 29. He suffered repeated vision problems and constantly worried if he would become blind. Shortly after he took up Falun Gong in 2002, the condition disappeared. He felt compelled to share his story widely, only to be arrested and sentenced twice to prison.

Mr. Yu’s latest ordeal stemmed from his arrest on August 23, 2020, after a security guard spotted him distributing informational materials about Falun Gong in a residential area. The security guard beat him, and Mr. Yu’s eyes became swollen and red. The person then took him to the nearby Fenghuangtai Police Station. The police ransacked his home and confiscated his Falun Gong books and two cell phones. He was released on bail at around 10 p.m. after his family paid a 2,000-yuan bail bond.

In October and November 2021, the police harassed Mr. Yu twice, which greatly distressed his elderly parents. After the police returned his bail bond in November, they put him under residential surveillance and told him that they had submitted his case to the Zhifu District Procuratorate.

Prosecutor Lou Jun called Mr. Yu on February 7, 2022, to confirm that they had received his case. Mr. Yu was arrested at work two weeks later, on February 22, and has been held in the Mouping Detention Center ever since.

Prosecutor Lou indicted Mr. Yu on March 11 and moved his case to the Zhifu District Court. His hearing was postponed from April 6 to July 4 due to his hunger strike to protest the persecution. He was sentenced to three years at the hearing. Prior to his latest sentencing, he once served six years in prison, also for raising awareness of the persecution.

Mr. Yu’s mother is trying to appeal the latest prison sentence. In an open letter she wrote to prosecutor Lou in March prior to her son’s indictment, she said, “I’m almost 80. I’m so heartbroken to hear about my son’s arrest. If he really has committed a crime, I wouldn’t even write this letter. But he is now detained just because he practices Falun Gong and distributes information about it. How can I accept that?

“When he was 29, he had a severe eye condition that we were told would eventually make him blind in both eyes. He was so desperate. For three years, my husband and I accompanied him to the hospital countless times. We stayed with him and comforted him. It was a really dark period for all of us. When he told me in 2002 that his eyes were cured by Falun Gong, I was so happy for him.

“Just as I thought that things were looking up for our family, my son was arrested and sentenced to six years for distributing Falun Gong materials. I don’t understand how could his distributing information undermine law enforcement, as the indictment indicated? Falun Gong saved his life and gave him hope. Why couldn’t he just tell people about it?”

Perpetrators’ list:

Yu Xiaodong (于晓东), president of Yantai City Intermediate CourtLi Tongmin (李同民), vice president of Yantai City Intermediate CourtYan Qingli (闫青利), vice president of Yantai City Intermediate Court

(More perpetrators’ information is available in the original Chinese article.)