(Minghui.org) A Yueyang City, Hunan Province resident was sentenced to four years and fined 5,000 yuan on July 20, 2020, for his faith in Falun Gong, an ancient spiritual and meditation discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Mr. Lu Yongliang, 62, was arrested at home on May 27, 2019, while studying Falun Gong with several other practitioners. Four of the practitioners and Mr. Lu’s wife were later interrogated and intimidated by the police. Some of their testimonies were submitted by the police as prosecution evidence against Mr. Lu.
The police submitted Mr. Lu’s case to the Lou District Procuratorate on July 2, 2019, with the charge of “undermining law enforcement,” a standard pretext used by the authorities to frame Falun Gong practitioners. The prosecutor twice rejected his case for insufficient evidence before indicting him and forwarding his case to the Lou District Court on December 26.
The Lou District Court later transferred Mr. Lu’s case to the Pingjiang County Court, which eventually sentenced him.
Mr. Lu has been denied family visits since his arrest. After spending a year at Yueyang City No.1 Detention Center, he was taken to the Yueyang Rehabilitation Psychiatric Hospital in early June 2020. When his family went to the detention center to inquire about his situation, the guards told them that Mr. Lu was doing well in the detention center without telling them that he had been transferred away.
The Pingjiang County Court announced his verdict on July 20, 2020, which happened to be the 21st anniversary of the persecution of Falun Gong. His computer, printer, DVD burner, and stapler confiscated during his arrest were formally impounded. He was also ordered to pay the 5,000-yuan fine within ten days of the verdict’s announcement.
Mr. Lu took up Falun Gong in 1997. He credits the practice for helping him quit many bad habits and giving him hope to start a new life.
For telling people how he had benefited from Falun Gong, he was detained in a brainwashing center twice and spent months in Xinkaipu Forced Labor Camp. His employer claimed to have lost his personnel file and refused to process his retirement application. Unable to receive retirement benefits, he and his family made a living by cleaning houses for other people.
Related reports:
Two Falun Gong Practitioners Sent to Mental Hospital, Family Kept in the Dark of Their Situation
All content published on this website is copyrighted by Minghui.org. Minghui will produce compilations of its online content regularly and on special occasions.
