(Minghui.org) An 82-year-old Weifang City, Shandong Province resident was arrested at home on August 15, 2022 for his faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Mr. Wang Zhigeng was taken to the Beihailu Police Station, where a court staff member handed him a copy of his indictment and his residential surveillance notice. The police then informed his son to take him home.
On the morning of August 26 (Friday), a group of nine people, including the police, the prosecutor and the judge, came to Mr. Wang’s home to hold a trial. He was sentenced to three years and fined 5,000 yuan. After handing down the sentence, the police took Mr. Wang to the hospital for a checkup. By the time they took him to the Weifang City Detention Center, it was already late at night. The guards refused to accept him and asked the police to return on Monday morning. It’s not clear whether Mr. Wang has been taken into custody at the time of writing.
Mr. Wang’s ordeal dated back to his earlier arrest on October 23, 2019, as the police claimed that they had caught Mr. Wang putting up posters about Falun Gong two weeks ago. They searched his home for two hours and confiscated his Falun Gong books and related materials.
Two staff members from the Kuiwen District Procuratorate went to Mr. Wang’s home on June 5, 2020, and told him that he had been charged with “undermining law enforcement with a cult organization,” a standard pretext used by the authorities to frame Falun Gong practitioners.
Mr. Wang’s son received a call from the Kuiwen District Court on July 9, 2020 and was told that his father was scheduled to appear in court a month later. It’s not clear whether the hearing ever took place, before he was sentenced two years later.
Mr. Wang is a retired teacher. In July 1999, days after the onset of the persecution, he was arrested and held in a brainwashing center for 20 days, during which time he was forced to watch propaganda videos attacking Falun Gong every day. He was forced to pay 1,000 yuan before being released. His home was also ransacked during the time.
Mr. Wang was arrested again on February 16, 2000 and detained for a month. During the time, the police tied him to a tree along a major road for four hours to humiliate him. He was once forced to sit on an ice block for hours. The police also forced him to run and slapped him in the face. He was fined 10,800 yuan.
His next arrest was in early June 2013 for putting up informational stickers about Falun Gong. He was held in a brainwashing center for a day and forced to sit in a metal chair. The police extorted 20,000 yuan from his family in exchange for his release.
Related report:
80-Year-Old Man Faces Trial for Posting Information about Falun Gong
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