(Minghui.org) It was recently learned that a 53-year-old resident of Qionghai City, Hainan Province was sentenced to six years and fined 10,000 yuan for his faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Mr. Deng Xiancheng’s family was never notified of his indictment or trial. They did not learn of his wrongful conviction until they received a call from the intermediate court asking them to pay his court fine. They were told that he is now serving time at the Sanjiang Prison.
Mr. Deng was arrested on October 14, 2022, while he was putting up Falun Gong posters in neighboring Ding’an County. The police raided his home and confiscated his laptop, motorcycle, and helmet. They held him at the Longhu Town Police Station for 15 days before transferring him to the Ding’an County Detention Center on October 29.
The Ding’an County Police Department and the Dalu Police Station forced Mr. Deng’s parents to sign a blank piece of paper at an unknown date in 2022, and he stood trial at a local court the next day. About one year later, in late 2023, he was sentenced to six years.
This is not the first time that Mr. Deng has been targeted for his faith. He was sentenced to two years in January 2003 for going to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. He was released in January 2005.
The police in Wenchang City (about 30 miles away from Qionghai City and also in Hainan Province), arrested Mr. Deng in 2008 after spotting him distributing Falun Gong materials in their jurisdiction. They raided his home and put him in a brainwashing center. The Wenchang City Court sentenced him to four and a half years on October 17, 2008, and he was admitted to a local prison on the same day. He was released on January 28, 2013.
Mr. Deng moved to Haikou (the capital city of Hainan Province) after he was released, but was arrested at his rental place on December 11, 2015, while he was making Falun Gong informational materials. He was later sentenced to six years in the Sanjiang Prison.
Mr. Deng was released on May 29, 2021, only to be arrested on July 19 that year and taken to a brainwashing center. Two officers put him face up in a chair. One of them pushed his head down and another pressed on his legs hard, turning his waist into a single pivot point of a seesaw. Despite the excruciating pain, Mr. Deng held firm to his faith. The police then cuffed his hands to metal bars of open windows. It was nearly 104oF at the time and there were also numerous mosquitoes biting him. Yet the police cuffed him like that for days on end, even at night or when it was pouring. They also beat him hard with a PVC pipe and gave him only meager amount of food to eat.
Mr. Deng became unrecognizable and was on the verge of death. Only then was he released from the brainwashing center on December 29, 2021. The police kept harassing him at home after his release. At one point he was forced to live away from the home he shared with his parents and sister. The police then detained his three family members on a rotating basis.
The police also raided the family home in the middle of the night numerous times and extorted money from Mr. Deng’s loved ones using various excuses. His mother’s retirement payment is only 200 yuan each month, yet the police demanded several thousand yuan each time.