(Minghui.org) A 55-year-old resident of Suizhong County, Liaoning Province, was recently sentenced to 14 months for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Mr. Yang Jiangwei, a former employee of Liangjin Dayang Electric Power Installation Company, was arrested on April 19, 2024, after he was seen putting up a self-adhesive sticker reading “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance [Falun Gong’s core tenets] is good” on a utility pole. He appeared in the Lianshan District Court on December 26, 2024 and January 16, 2025, before being convicted in February 2025. It’s not clear where he is currently detained. Details of his hearing can be found in the first related report below.

Prior to Mr. Yang’s latest arrest, he served three forced labor terms and a ten-year prison term. He was only able to spend a bit over seven years with his family during the past 26 years of persecution.

Arrested for Appealing for Falun Gong

On July 21, 1999, the day after the Chinese Communist Party ordered the persecution of Falun Gong, Mr. Yang rode a motorcycle to Beijing to appeal (as all public transportation modes would subject Falun Gong practitioners to search and arrest on their way to Beijing to appeal). He was arrested and escorted back to Suizhong. His motorcycle was also confiscated. On July 27, 1999, he was taken to a brainwashing center and held there for ten days. 610 Office agents also extorted 500 yuan from him.

Mr. Yang went to Beijing on September 3, 1999 to appeal again and was reported. The Suizhong County Police Department ordered his workplace to dispatch a car to take him back, but to no avail. Mr. Yang was arrested when he returned to work on September 8 and taken to the Suizhong County Detention Center. Fifteen days later, he was transferred to a brainwashing session in the Huludao City Forced Labor Camp. He was held there for 20 days and extorted 700 yuan. The police took him back to the Suizhong County Police Department on October 12 and extorted 1,000 yuan from his family, before releasing him.

A few days later, on October 21, 1999, the police deceived Mr. Yang into going to the detention center. He was immediately admitted and his home was ransacked. He was detained for 25 days and released on November 16. His family was extorted another 3,000 yuan.

First 1.5-Year Labor Camp Term

Mr. Yang’s next arrest was on the evening of June 24, 2000. After nine days at the detention center, he was taken to the Huludao City Forced Labor Camp to serve a 1.5-year term. The guards beat and searched him on his first day there.

On November 8, 2000, guards Liu Guohua and Zhang Guozhu ordered Mr. Yang to go to their office. They handcuffed him, beat him and shocked his face, neck and back with electric batons. He was subjected to electric shocks again on March 1, 2001, when he refused to renounce Falun Gong.

Torture reenactment: electric shocks

Mr. Yang held a hunger strike to protest the persecution in November 2001 and was force-fed. The guards also beat him, pinched his neck and shocked his temple with electric batons. He felt his head was exploding. His tongue protruded due to the electric shocks. The guards kept him handcuffed for several days. The cuffs were so tight that they cut into his flesh. The scars are still visible on his wrists. His teeth also became loose as the guards pried open his mouth to force-feed him.

Torture reenactment: force feeding

Second 3-Year Labor Camp Term

Mr. Yang was arrested again on January 30, 2002, while buying some paint. This was only one month after he was released in December 2001. The police claimed that many graffiti supporting Falun Gong appeared in public areas recently and they suspected that Mr. Yang painted the messages. They held him at the Suizhong County Detention Center. He held a hunger strike for ten days and was later released. His family was extorted 1,000 yuan.

Mr. Yang was seized at his work by officers from the Suizhong County Police Department on May 22, 2022 and he was taken to the Xingcheng Brainwashing Center. The next afternoon, the police gave him a three-year labor camp term, with the excuse that he refused to eat at the brainwashing center and was a diehard member of Falun Gong. He was transferred to the Huludao City Forced Labor Camp on May 24.

In June 2002, guards Meng, Cui Xiaodong and Liu Haihou shocked him with multiple electric batons. He had many big blisters as a result. He was tortured again in early August 2002 for doing the Falun Gong exercises.

Because Mr. Yang didn’t call out “report” when he entered the guards’ office on November 18, 2002, he was again shocked with electric batons and held in solitary confinement.

On January 5, 2003, the guards shocked many practitioners, including Mr. Yang, with high-voltage electric batons. They put helmets on them to prevent them from hitting their heads against the wall due to the pain and stuffed their mouths with rags.

Mr. Yang’s condition became critical in May 2003 and he was taken to the hospital for resuscitation. Before he recovered, the guards took him back to the labor camp. He held another hunger strike to protest and was force-fed. The guards refused to allow his family to visit him.

On June 5, 2003, Mr. Yang’s father, sister Ms. Yang Yunping, and a friend named Mr. Yao Yanhui went to the labor camp. They demanded to meet with warden Wang Yuanchun and requested to apply for medical parole for Mr. Yang. Wang instructed the guards to arrest them instead. Both Mr. Yao and Ms. Yang were given labor camp terms. Mr. Yao served time in the same Huludao City Forced Labor Camp and Ms. Yang was taken to the Masanjia Forced Labor Camp.

Third 3-Year Labor Camp Term

Mr. Yang was arrested again at work on July 4, 2005, after the police suspected him of playing podcasts of the book Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party through speakers around the city three days before.

Despite the fact that the police didn’t find anything at Mr. Yang’s home to show that it was him who set up the speakers, they still took him the Huludao City Forced Labor Camp the next day to serve a three-year term. He held a hunger strike to protest and was force-fed. He continued the hunger strike for more than three months and was in critical condition. The guards took him to the Huludao City Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital on October 12, 2005 for a physical examination. He was found to have electrolyte imbalance and low blood potassium level.

The labor camp notified Mr. Yang’s family to pick up his medical parole form on October 17, 2005. But the family had to repeatedly try to get approval from Shang Ergui and Chen Guohua from the Suizhong City 610 Office, as well as other officials in the city and provincial level.

Sentenced to Ten Years

Although Mr. Yang was later released, he was arrested again on August 6, 2006, while distributing informational materials about Falun Gong. He managed to escape the next morning, only to be arrested on February 25, 2008, one month after he was married. He was sentenced to ten years by the Huludao City Court in May 2008. His wife, Ms. Li Xiaoming, also a Falun Gong practitioner, was given one year at the Masanjia Forced Labor Camp.

Between April 17 and 19, 2009, the guards at the Panjin Prison took several practitioners, including Mr. Yang, Mr. Huang Lizhong, Mr. Zhang Qi, Mr. Zhao Lu, Mr. Shang Yanming, Mr. Lyu Binggui, and Mr. Gong Huaiyou, to the strict management team for torture. They hung up the practitioners, beat and shocked them with electric batons. (Mr. Huang died from the torture on October 25, 2009.)

Torture reenactment: beating

Beginning in May 2009, guards Wang Jianjun, Liu Jichun, Zhang Fude, Liu Wenxia, and Liu Ling hung Mr. Yang up by the wrists to bed frames, windows, and heating pipes, for 16 hours every day for six months. His legs were swollen and extremely painful.

Torture illustration: hung up by the wrists

On May 8, 2012, Mr. Yang was transferred from the Panjin Prison to the Nanguanling Prison in Dalian City. In order to force him to give up Falun Gong, the guards didn’t allow him to sleep for three days and burned his buttocks with an electric heater.

In addition to the two prison terms mentioned above, Mr. Yang also served time in Nanshan Prison in Jinzhou and Dalian City First Prison.

Related Reports:

55-Year-Old Liaoning Man Stands Trial for His Faith, Having Previously Spent 17.5 Years Behind Bars

55-Year-Old Liaoning Man Arrested Again for His Faith, Having Previously Spent 17.5 Years Behind Bars

Yang Jiangwei Sentenced to Ten Years in Prison after Enduring Seven Years of Forced Labor

Yang Jiangwei Severely Persecuted at Nanguanling Prison

Yang Jiangwei Imprisoned Since 2008, Family Visitations Denied