(Minghui.org) A 68-year-old Mudanjiang City, Heilongjiang Province resident was recently sentenced to three years for his faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Mr. Zhao Zhongjiang was arrested on November 20, 2020, by officers from the Aimin Police Station. The police revealed that they had monitored Mr. Zhao’s daily life for a long time before arresting him. The police also arrested his landlord, sealed the rental apartment, as well as ransacking the homes of Mr. Zhao’s two sons and one son’s mother-in-law. A plainclothes officer stayed at one of his son’s homes, trying to arrest anyone who came to visit him.
Mr. Zhao was kept at the Mudanjiang City Detention Center after his arrest and has been taken to a prison to serve time. It’s unclear in which local prison he is being held. More details of his sentencing also remain unknown.
Past Persecution
Mr. Zhao took up Falun Gong in March 1997. His headache from childhood meningitis, as well as rheumatoid arthritis and gastric ulcer were soon cured.
After the persecution started, Mr. Zhao went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong on March 15, 2000. He was arrested and beaten by the police at the Chang’anjie Police Station for over three hours. After he was taken back to Mudanjiang, he was held at the Mudanjiang No. 2 Detention Center for 15 days. The police extorted 9,000 yuan from his family before releasing him.
Upon hearing that the security personnel at Mudanjiang Train Station ordered passengers to step on photos of the founder of Falun Gong, Mr. Zhao went to appeal with the authorities, only to be arrested and beaten.
He returned to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong on January 9, 2001, and was arrested again. On the way to the Qianmen Police Station, the police beat him more than 30 times with police batons and shocked his chest with electric batons. After he was taken back to Mudanjiang, the police first held him at the Mudanjiang No.2 Detention Center for seven days and then gave him two years at the Mudanjiang Forced Labor Camp.
Mr. Zhao was arrested again on August 16, 2008, when he returned home around noon after working in his family’s farm field. After taking him to the police station, officers Peng Fuming and Liu Jun of the Domestic Security Office returned to his home and ransacked his place. His over 20 Falun Gong books were confiscated. He was held in custody for a day and extorted 2,000 yuan.
Mr. Zhao’s fifth arrest was on March 1, 2011. He was given another two years at the Suihua Forced Labor Camp after 45 days of detention at the Mudanjiang No.2 Detention Center. He was forced to do intensive unpaid labor and subjected to constant beating and swearing while serving time at the labor camp.
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