(Minghui.org) A man in Fuxin City, Liaoning Province, was sentenced to 3.5 years on November 13, 2023, for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Mr. Li Jian, 55 and an employee of the Fuxin Branch of China Unicom, placed a Falun Gong flyer on a car’s door handle on June 13, 2023. The car owner caught him in the act and took a picture of him to submit to the police. Officers of the Xihe District Police Department monitored him for a month before arresting him at his workplace on July 19. The police then took him back home for a raid and confiscated his Falun Gong books and other personal items. He was held at the Fuxin City Detention Center.
According to Mr. Li’s neighbors, the authorities dispatched heavy police force to ransack his home. Some local residents panicked, thinking the police were arresting a murderer.
After the Xihe District Procuratorate approved Mr. Li’s arrest, his 84-year-old father submitted a letter to the prosecutor, demanding a dismissal of the case. The prosecutor didn’t respond to the elderly man, but quickly indicted Mr. Li and moved his case to the Fumeng County Court.
Mr. Li’s father contacted judge Li Bo on October 17 as a family defender and demanded to review his case file. Li denied his request and said she would let him know three days in advance once she decided on a court date.
Mr. Li appeared in the Fumeng County Court on November 1. He dismissed the court-appointed lawyer who was set to enter a guilty plea for him, and acted as his own lawyer and entered a not guilty plea. His father also defended him.
The judge announced on November 13 the sentencing of Mr. Li to 3.5 years with an 8,000-yuan fine. His father received the verdict two days later and has filed an appeal on his behalf with the Fuxin City Intermediate Court.
Prior to his latest sentencing, Mr. Li was given two administrative detentions in 1999 before being given a two-year labor camp terms in November that year, all for speaking out for Falun Gong.
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