(Minghui.org) A resident of Dandong City, Liaoning Province, was sent to Dongling Prison on August 14, 2019, after his appeal to overturn a three-year term for his faith in Falun Gong was rejected by the appeals court.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Mr. Li Quanchen, 47, was arrested on June 29, 2018, along with Mr. Zhang Ming, after the traffic police found Falun Gong materials in their car.
Mr. Li and Mr. Zhang were tried in the Zhen'an District Court on March 18, 2019. On March 27, Mr. Li was sentenced to three years and fined 5,000 yuan, while Mr. Zhang was sentenced to one year and fined 2,000 yuan.
They appealed their verdicts to the Dandong City Intermediate Court but were rejected.
Mr. Zhang was released on June 28, 2019, after having served his term.
In the past 20 years of the persecution of Falun Gong, Mr. Li has been arrested three times and sentenced to seven years prior to the newest term.
Mr. Li was first arrested while doing the Falun Gong exercises in a public plaza on November 22, 1999, as a way to protest the persecution. He was held at Dandong City Detention Center for a month.
He was arrested again on August 26, 2002. At a secret detention location, the police officers took turns torturing and interrogating him.
After he fainted from the beatings, the officers poured cold water onto him to revive him and then continued the torture.
When he was sent to Dandong City Detention Center after two weeks of abuse, even several guards said, “This is too much,” upon seeing his body covered with bruises and injuries.
Mr. Li was sentenced to seven years in prison by the Zhenxing District Court in June 2003 and sent to Dabei Prison on July 24, 2003.
He contracted tuberculosis in late 2004 as a result of abuse in the prison and was hospitalized for a few months. The guards continued to torture him after he was sent back to the prison.
Mr. Li was transferred to Panjin Prison on December 20, 2007, and was held in solitary confinement, where he was shocked with electric batons, forced to sit on a tiger bench and stomped on.
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