(Minghui.org) Four Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province residents were sentenced to prison in July 2022 for practicing Falun Gong, and their appeals were turned down in January 2023.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Mr. Tong Xuesheng, a native of Sanming City, Fujian Province; Ms. Sun Xiuli, 50, from Zhaodong City, Heilongjiang Province; Ms. Zhang Yongmei, 58, from Dongning County, Heilongjiang Province; and Mr. Mai Kanglin, 30, of Wuchuan City, Guangdong Province, were arrested on July 3, 2020, for printing and distributing informational materials about Falun Gong.
The four practitioners were held in the Tianhe Detention Center in Guangzhou City and had their arrests approved on August 8. After the police submitted their cases to the Haizhu District Procuratorate on October 29, 2020, the prosecutor twice returned their cases, citing insufficient evidence. The police refused to release them and submitted their cases for the third time on February 8, 2021. The prosecutor later indicted the practitioners.
The Haizhu District Court held a joint hearing of the four cases on November 2, 2021. The judge announced their verdicts in July 2022.
Both Mr. Tong and Ms. Sun were sentenced to four years and fined 15,000 yuan. Ms. Zhang was given three years and fined 10,000 yuan. Mr. Mai was sentenced to two years and six months with a 5,000-yuan fine. They appealed with the Guangzhou City Intermediate Court, which ruled to uphold their original verdicts on January 9, 2023.
Past Persecution of Mr. Tong
Mr. Tong began to practice Falun Gong in September 1997 when he was 13. Not long after, the short-tempered and foul-mouthed teen with many bad habits became a broad-minded and kindhearted young man.
After the persecution started two years later, the then 16-year-old went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong in March 2000. He was arrested and expelled by the Tianjin Light Industry College, which he had been attending.
Mr. Tong was given one year of forced labor in 2001, after he was arrested again for returning to Beijing to appeal. Following his third arrest in 2005, the then-21-year-old man was sentenced to four years.
Because he refused to renounce Falun Gong, he was often handcuffed and beaten by the prison guards. He was once ordered to remain on the athletic field all day long, either standing or sitting, but not moving. The guards beat him if he moved. He was given a limited amount of water to drink despite the scorching sun. He was unable to sleep at night because of the mosquitoes.
Related reports:
Four Guangdong Residents Sentenced to 2-4 Years for Practicing Falun Gong
Guangdong Man Persecuted Since Age 16 Faces Indictment Again for His Faith
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