(Minghui.org) Mr. Zhang Fuchun lives in Yushu Township, Xinbin County, Fushun City, Liaoning Province. He had lumbar muscle degeneration before and could not maintain a full time work schedule. He had a tough life. Due to the long-term stress, his wife suffered from depression, headaches, and heartache. There was no improvement even though she took many kinds of medicine. After practicing Falun Gong, Mr. Zhang and his wife fully recovered. He did not feel tired even doing heavy labor. Their lives became much better.

In March 2008, Mr. Zhang's son, Zhang Dong was taken to the Yushu Police Station in Xinbin County for posting Falun Gong materials and exposing the persecution. Later on, Gao Zhenyuan, Dong Xianwei, Cao Wei, and other officers from the Yushu Police Station went to ransack Mr. Zhang Fuchun's home. Mr. Zhang managed to escapte at that time. On September 3, 2011, at about 7 a.m., seven or eight domestic security officers from the Fushun Police Department surrounded Mr. Zhang and beat him until he fell down. His nose bled. His wife, Ms. Guo Qingfeng, tried to stop them. The couple was taken away. Mr. Zhang was sent to the Xinbin Detention Center.

After Mr. Zhang was sent to the Xinbin Detention Center, his family hired an attorney from Beijing to enter a not guilty plea for him.

The Xinbin Criminal Court arraigned Mr. Zhang Fuchun on July 13, 2012. The Beijing attorney pleaded not guilty for him and presented the following arguments:

1. It was said that Mr. Zhang Fuchun practices Falun Gong. Which state law or regulation does this violate? None. That is, Falun Gong practitioners do not violate any laws. None of the 300 items of criminal law apply to Falun Gong practitioners.

2. It is not illegal for Falun Gong practitioners to download Falun Gong materials from the Internet. It is an expression of freedom of belief and freedom of speech, which are protected by the Constitution.

3. Falun Gong practitioners create and distribute Falun Gong materials, which conforms to Item 35 of the Constitution: a citizen has freedom of speech, of the press, of assembly, of association, of procession, and of demonstration.

The spectators in the courtroom deemed the attorney's argument very reasonable. At the end, the attorney told the judge that Mr. Zhang was not guilty and should be released.

However, the court secretly sentenced Mr. Zhang Fuchun to three years in prison, without informing his family. Mr. Zhang was transferred to Dabei Prison in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, at the end of October 2012.

Mr. Zhang's father is over 80 years old. He was very upset after his son was illegally sentenced. The kindly villagers from Mr. Zhang's hometown saw that he was sentenced because he practices Falun Gong and sets a high standard for himself to be a good person by following the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. They also sympathized with Mr. Zhang's father. They signed an appeal to request the release of Mr. Zhang.