(Minghui.org) A 57-year-old resident of Dalian City, Liaoning Province was sentenced to five years and fined 20,000 yuan on January 3, 2023 for his faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Mr. Yan Shanwei was arrested on June 10, 2023, while distributing Falun Gong informational materials in a local residential complex. The arresting officers from the Wanli Police Station raided his home and took him to the Economic Development Zone Detention Center.
The police submitted Mr. Yan’s case to the Pulandian District Procuratorate in Dalian City around late June 2023. The Pulandian District Court scheduled a hearing for 2:20 p.m. on November 24, 2023. Mr. Yan’s wife and daughter arrived at the courthouse at 1:30 p.m. that day and called presiding judge Liu Jianzhuang to inquire about when exactly the hearing was set to begin. But Liu said they were not allowed to attend the hearing, without providing a reason. They then asked if Mr. Yang’s older sister could go in and Liu insisted that the sister must produce an official document proving her blood relationship with Mr. Yan.
Mr. Yan’s sister of course did not any have official proof with her as she wasn’t notified of such an unlawful requirement. She, along with her sister-in-law and niece, was thus blocked from attending the hearing.
Liu promised the three family members that they could meet with Mr. Yan after the hearing, but he had bailiffs whisk Mr. Yan away immediately after he adjourned the session in less than 30 minutes, without allowing the family to see him. It is unclear whether he is still held at the detention center at the time of writing.
Taking up Falun Gong
Mr. Yan used to suffer from severe hepatitis B, synovitis (inflammation of the connective tissue inside the joint capsule) and lower back pain. When his hepatitis B was at its worst, he often woke up in the middle of the night soaked in sweat. He also had persistent fever and nausea. Whenever it rained, his legs became severely swollen from synovitis. Every time his back pain flared up, he had to get shots to relieve the pain or he would not be able to work.
Mr. Yan’s mother later took up Falun Gong and soon became healthy. He was amazed and joined her in the practice in 1998. In just a few months, all his symptoms disappeared. He was amazed by his miraculous recovery and often told people that Falun Gong cured all his diseases. His wife, Ms. Li Yumei, started practicing Falun Gong, too.
Past Persecution
After the persecution began in July 1999, the local police and village officials confiscated Mr. Yan and Ms. Li’s Falun Gong books and exercise music tapes.
Ms. Li went to Beijing in October 1999 to appeal for Falun Gong. She was arrested and given three years of forced labor in December 2000.
Mr. Yan also went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong in 2000. Upon returning to Dalian, he was fired from his job and detained for one month. After he was released, the local police kept harassing him at home and arrested him again several months later. They held him at the Dalian City Brainwashing Center for more than forty days.
Ms. Li’s labor camp term was extended and she was not released until March 2004. The Economic Development Zone Police Department kept harassing the couple in the years that followed. They were eventually forced to live away from home in July 2007. They returned to Dalian in 2011 when the local government gave them a new apartment as compensation for taking over their old home in the communist regime’s urbanization movement.
Ms. Li and Mr. Yan were taking a stroll in the neighborhood on the morning of April 20, 2016 when a group of people swarmed them and took them to the Daheishan Detention Center. They stood trial at the Economic Development Zone Court on November 15, 2016 and were both sentenced to prison on December 8 that year. Ms. Li was given 4 years and fined 5,000 yuan. Mr. Yan was given 3.5 years and fined 3,000 yuan. Ms. Li was admitted to the Liaoning Province Women’s Prison on May 23, 2017. Mr. Yan was first taken to the Dalian Prison before being transferred to the Benxi Prison on July 19, 2017.
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