(Minghui.org) A 70-year-old resident of Feicheng City, Shandong Province, was sentenced to one year and fined 5,000 yuan on July 6, 2023, for his faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Mr. Zhou Chuanzhong’s sentencing stemmed from an incident on February 19, 2023. He went out that night to distribute Falun Gong informational materials in nearby Daiyue District, Tai’an City (which oversees Feicheng City), and was reported to police the next day.
A total of 15 agents raided Mr. Zhou’s home on February 28. The arresting officers included vice-captain Xu Chongjun and officer Zhao Feng from the Daiyue District Domestic Security Office, as well as officers from the Zhoudian Police Station.
The police confiscated Mr. Zhou’s Falun Gong informational materials and also secretly installed a tracking device on his electric bike. Mr. Zhou didn’t find out about the device until his bike later needed repair and the repairmen discovered the device.
While held at the Zhoudian Police Station, Mr. Zhou reminded the police that it is totally lawful to practice Falun Gong and urged them to stop persecuting law-abiding citizens like him.
The Daiyue District Domestic Security Office released Mr. Zhou on one-year bail the next day (March 1). In the next few months, they kept pressuring him to write statements to renounce his faith. He refused and they submitted his case to the Feicheng City Procuratorate, which proceeded to indict him.
The Feicheng City Court tried Mr. Zhou on July 6. Judge Li Xin presided over the hearing, with Ding Xiyuan and Wang Jianku being his assistant judges. Zhang Bo was the assistant to all judges, while Zhao Wei was the clerk. Prosecutors Ma Ruoxi and Zhang Guoqing were present.
Mr. Zhou didn’t have his own lawyer, and the court appointed a lawyer Geng Chaomei to enter a guilty plea for him.
Mr. Zhou was allowed to go home after the hearing. He was sentenced to one year with a 5,000-yuan fine on August 2. That day officers Zhao (who arrested him) and Nie from the Daiyue District Domestic Security Office took him to the Tai’an City Chinese Medicine Hospital for a medical examination. He was found to have a fist-sized tumor in his abdomen, but Zhao and Nie still drove him to the Tai’an City Detention Center, despite his plea to keep him on bail as he needed to take care of his paralyzed wife.
The detention center declined to admit him after reading his health exam results. Only then did Zhao and Nie drive Mr. Zhou home.
On August 16, Mr. Zhou was notified to pay his court fine by that day. His son was worried about any further trouble so he paid the fine.
It is unclear when Mr. Zhou may be taken back into custody to serve time.
Previously Jailed for Three Years and Ten Months
Before his retirement, Mr. Zhou worked at the Shandong Provincial Geological Survey Bureau. His job required him to work outdoors, which over the years caused significant damage to his health. All his symptoms disappeared, however, soon after he took up Falun Gong in 1996. His wife, Ms. Wang Shuhua, also joined him in the practice. She later became paralyzed as a result of the long-term persecution.
After the persecution began, the couple’s home was raided and they were closely monitored. Mr. Zhou was arrested multiple times and had his pay suspended for unknown periods of time.
In order to avoid further persecution, Mr. Zhou and his wife lived away from home. The couple was arrested in Sanhe City, Hebei Province on February 26, 2006. Their son, daughter-in-law, and three-year-old grandson were also seized from their shared rental place that day.
While his loved ones were soon released, Mr. Zhou remained in custody and was later sentenced to three and a half years by the Sanhe City Court. He suffered brutal torture at the Tangshan Prison in Hebei Province. Because he refused to renounce Falun Gong, his term was extended by four months and he was released in January 2010.
Related Reports:
18 Practitioners from Mengyin County, Shandong Province, Arrested
Nine Falun Dafa Practitioners from Hebei Province Illegally Imprisoned
Nine Falun Dafa Practitioners Held Past Their Term in the Sanhe Detention Center, Hebei Province
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