(Minghui.org) A 66-year-old man in Xining City, Qinghai Province, was secretly sentenced to five years for his faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual and meditation discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999. His family was never informed of his court hearings (if any).
Mr. Cao Shengxiang was arrested at home on June 29, 2020. The police confiscated his Falun Gong books without a search warrant. His family received his detention notice the next day. They recently learned that he was taken to Menyuan Prison after a secret sentencing.
This is the second time that Mr. Cao, the former director of the Logistics Department of Xining Jiaotong Hospital, has been sentenced for his faith.
Mr. Cao was previously arrested on June 23, 2012. At his home, a dozen officers confiscated his Falun Gong books, computer, printer, and office supplies, including copy paper, cartridges, an MP3, blank DVDs, a paper cutter, and a phone book. The list of confiscated items had the seal from “Xining City Domestic Security Office” and was signed by Chen Xiaolong and Chen Tao.
Mr. Cao was taken to the Ershilipu Detention Center three days later and denied family visits. His family frequented the police station to inquire about his case, but no officer would speak to them. They were also given run-arounds between the Chengbei District Police Department and the Xining City Police Department when they went to seek updates about his case.
Zhan Xiaolin, presiding judge of the Chengbei District Court, held a secret hearing in the second half of 2013 without informing Mr. Cao’s family. Prosecutors Sun Wei and Chen Wei from the Chengbei District Procuratorate attended the session. The judge didn’t allow Mr. Cao to defend himself and sentenced him to five years.
When his family later went to the procuratorate to inquire about his case, the prosecutor said to them, “Because Cao Shengxiang is an adult, we don’t have to inform you of the hearing.”
In January 2014, the family learned from the detention center that he had been sentenced. They went to the court to ask for a copy of his verdict but were told, “Because he is an adult, we don’t have to give you his verdict.”
On February 24, 2014, the day after Mr. Cao’s family told the prosecutor that they would hire a lawyer to appeal for him, the authorities transferred him to Menyuan Prison.
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