(Minghui.org) A Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province resident was sentenced to eight years by a court in nearby Henan Province for posting information about Falun Gong on WeChat, a popular social media platform in China.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Mr. Sun Wanshuai, an art teacher in his 50s, was arrested at home on December 3, 2020, by internet police from Luoyang City, Henan Province, about 600 miles away. His computer and cell phone were confiscated. The police claimed that he sent sensitive information about Falun Gong on WeChat and took him to Luoyang.

After a year of detention, the Jianxi District Court in Luoyang held a hearing for Mr. Sun’s case on December 11, 2021. The judge didn’t allow his family to hire lawyers to enter a not guilty plea for him. The judge also refused to have his handcuffs and shackles removed during the session. Mr. Sun was given five minutes to testify in his own defense.

The judge announced to sentence him to eight years with a 30,000-yuan fine in July 2022.

Since 2019, the police in Henan have gone across the country and arrested multiple practitioners for spreading information online about the persecution of Falun Gong.

In addition to Mr. Sun, the same court also sentenced Ms. Dai Zhiying of Shanghai to 9.5 years and Ms. Zhang Xia of Wuhan City, Hubei Province to 9 years for posting information on WeChat.

Three more practitioners, Ms. Fu Nijuan of Zhijiang City, Hubei Province, Mr. Li Fuchun of Beijing, and Mr. Wu Jiajian of Laixi City, Shandong Province, have also been arrested by the Luoyang police between October and November 2020 for sending information about Falun Gong on WeChat. They are now awaiting trial by the Jianxi District Court, after being indicted by prosecutor Wu Jiangyang of the Jianxi District Procuratorate on April 25, 2021.