(Minghui.org) A police officer was sentenced in February to five years and one month in prison after he was arrested for distributing fliers exposing the persecution of Falun Gong in China. He appealed, and his sentence was reduced to three and a half years.
Mr. Gao Yumin (高雨民), a veteran of over 20 years with the criminal investigation division of Fuxin City Police Department, then appealed a second time and went on a hunger strike to protest his sentence.
Even though Mr. Gao's case is still pending, his family and his lawyer recently learned that he had been transferred without their knowledge from the detention center to Dabei Prison in Shenyang, Liaoning Province.
When Mr. Gao's sisters went to the city government to seek his release, they were told by one official, “These Falun Gong people choose to die by going on hunger strikes!” The Gao sisters replied that no one would deprive themselves of food had there been other recourse to seek justice.
Mr. Gao has been on a hunger strike for more than six months, and his family is worried about his health.
Mr. Gao was first arrested by Cui Haifeng, head of the Zhangwu County Domestic Security Division, on November 6, 2013, for distributing Falun Gong pamphlets around Zhanggutai Town in Zhangwu County.
He was taken to the Heituozi Detention Center, where he held a hunger strike for 60 days to protest his illegal arrest. He was released on medical parole at the end of January 2014.
Mr. Gao was arrested again on February 21, 2014; tried on March 14 in Zhangwu Court; and sentenced to five years in prison by Judge Tang Xingquan. He appealed to the intermediate court, but his case was returned to the lower court.
Kou Hongxia is the chief judge of Zhangwu Court. When she learned that Mr. Gao's family had hired a defense lawyer, she immediately informed the local Political and Legal Affairs Committee, which threatened the family.
The judge also told Mr. Gao's lawyer that Liaoning Province prohibited lawyers from defending Falun Gong practitioners. However, when the lawyer challenged the judge to produce written evidence of the regulation, she was not able to.
Even though Mr. Gao's sentence was reduced to three and a half years in prison, he has now appealed to the intermediate court again and is on a protest hunger strike.
Kou Hongxia (寇虹霞), chief judge of the Zhangwu Court: +86-13194189988 (Cell), +86-418-7812007 (Office)Liu Baoxing (刘宝兴), party secretary of the local Political and Legal Affairs Committee: +86-13941866666 (Cell)Wang Qiubo (王秋博), deputy party secretary of the local Political and Legal Affairs Committee: +86-13314188366 (Cell)Zhang Tiemin (张铁民), party secretary of the Puxin Municipal Committee: +86- 15841810158 (Cell)Yang Zhenfu (杨振福), chief of the Fuxin Police Department: +86-13842730888 (Cell)Liu Siwei (刘思伟), head of the local domestic security division: +86-13941868686 (Cell), +86-15504188686 (Cell)Meng Hui (孟辉), commissar of the Fuxin Domestic Security Division: +86- 13604984002 (Cell), +86-15504184002 (Cell)