(Minghui.org) Four Suizhou City, Hubei Province, residents, were sentenced to 2-7.5 years in September 2024 for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. He Zhuojun, 59, Mr. Leng Shunchang, 59, Ms. Peng Huayun, 72, and Ms. Gong Taiqing, 67, were seized from their respective homes around 11 p.m. on August 3, 2023. The police held them at the Suizhou City Detention Center and submitted their cases to the Suizhou City Procuratorate on December 4.
While in custody, Mr. Leng was handcuffed and shackled for 16 days. The handcuffs and shackles were linked in a way that rendered him unable to stand up straight. Yet the guards still forced him to clean the floor. Ms. He and Ms. Peng held hunger strikes to protest the persecution and became very weak.
The police later revealed that they arranged a plainclothes officer to rent the apartment next door to Ms. He’s. The officer pretended to be a cancer patient and asked Ms. He to teach him how to practice Falun Gong. After gaining her trust, the officer collected information about her and the other three practitioners she had contact with, resulting in their arrests.
The Zengdu District Court held a joint hearing of the practitioners’ cases on June 27, 2024. Their lawyers entered not guilty pleas for them and demanded their acquittal. The judge sentenced them in September 2024. Ms. He and Mr. Leng were sentenced to 7.5 years and fined 10,000 yuan. Ms. Peng and Ms. Gong were each given two years with a 3,000-yuan fine. They are currently appealing their wrongful convictions with the Hubei Province Intermediate Court.
Prior to their latest arrests and sentencing, all four practitioners were persecuted for their faith before. Below are the details.
Ms. He Zhuojun: Forced to Divorce and Given One-Year Labor Camp Term
Ms. He used to work at a shopping mall. She took up Falun Gong in May 1998 and soon recovered from her heart condition and gynecological issues.
After the persecution started, she was arrested in June 2000, by officers from the Dongcheng Police Station. During her 28-day detention at the Suizhou City Second Detention Center, her husband forced her to sign divorce paperwork.
Ms. He went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong in December 2000. She was arrested at the Tiananmen Square and given one year at the Shayang Women’s Forced Labor Camp. The guards placed her in solitary confinement several times. They also beat her, shocked her with electric batons and deprived her of sleep on a regular basis. Several inmates wrapped her with a blanket and sat on her. She almost suffocated.
Because Ms. He refused to renounce her faith, the guards extended her term by ten months. The Suizhou City Police Department officers took her to the Suizhou City Second Detention Center for another one-month detention after her extended term expired. She held a hunger a strike to protest and was then released.
Ms. He was arrested again at home on the evening of November 23, 2009. She was held in a brainwashing center for five days. The police seized all the valuables from her home, including daily necessities. She was also forced to pay for her living expenses at the brainwashing center.
Ms. He was arrested another time on March 30, 2014, while at work. She was held in the Hubei Province Brainwashing Center for 45 days. The guards constantly verbally abused her or forced her to stand for long hours without moving. The director of the local Domestic Security Division beat her so hard that her mouth bled profusely and several of her teeth became loose. The director also spit phlegm on her face three times.
Mr. Leng Shunchang: Given Three-Year Labor Camp Term
Mr. Leng used to work as an electrician for the Tieshu Textile Group. He took up Falun Gong in April 1997 and also experienced health improvement.
Shortly after the onset of the persecution, Mr. Leng went to Beijing twice to appeal for Falun Gong in the last three months of 1999. Both times he was arrested and detained for 19 days and fined 2,000 yuan.
For putting up Falun Gong flyers and posters, Mr. Leng was arrested on April 24, 2001 and detained for 19 days. His workplace refused to honor his pay raise and arranged people to monitor him, with the excuse that he didn’t renounce Falun Gong.
One day in March 2002, a group of officers knocked on Mr. Leng’s door around 1 a.m., claiming to be conducting a census. He refused to let them in. The police attempted to break in, but were stopped by his neighbors.
Mr. Leng was arrested on September 30, 2002 and detained for ten days. He was arrested again on October 22, 2002 while on his way to work. After he held a hunger strike to protest, the detention center guards force-fed him three times. He was given three years of forced labor on October 28, 2002. He served time in the Denglin Forced Labor Camp and Shayang Forced Labor Camp. He was forced to do intensive labor without pay. The food he was given was scarce and worse than pig feed. In addition to the forced labor, he was also subjected to brainwashing, long hours of standing, and squatting or sitting on a small stool without moving. His term was also extended and he wasn’t released until January 16, 2006.
Ms. Peng Huayun: Repeatedly Arrested, Given One-Year Labor Camp Term, and Sister Passed Away
Ms. Peng’s kidney condition, irregular heart beat, and trigeminal neuralgia disappeared after she began to practice Falun Gong in April 1998.
She went to the Suizhou City Appeals Office to speak up for Falun Gong on July 12, 2000 and was arrested. She was taken to the Suizhou City Second Detention Center the next day to serve a 35-day detention. On August 26, less than ten days after she was released, she was arrested again and taken to the Suizhou City Second Detention Center for another 10-day detention.
A group of officers from the Nanjiao Police Station broke into Ms. Peng’s home around 9:30 p.m. on May 11, 2001. They raided her place and held her at the police station for a day.
Ms. Peng was arrested again at her family-owned store on the afternoon of September 26, 2002. She was force-fed twice during her nine-day detention.
After she was released, she was devastated to learn that her store had been shut down by the authorities. While seeking justice with the 610 Office on October 15, 2002, she was seized by officers from the Nanjiao Police Station and was taken to the Suizhou City Second Detention Center. During her 37-day detention, she held a hunger strike and was taken to the hospital for force-feeding. The guards added excessive salt to the food, and her stomach burned after she was force-fed.
Ms. Peng was arrested another time on January 21, 2003 and given one year at the Shayang Forced Labor Camp. She was denied admission and taken back home.
In addition to her own persecution, her older sister, Ms. Peng Hualan, who began to practice Falun Gong in May 2001, was also repeatedly arrested and harassed by the police. The persecution took a toll on her health and she became incapacitated. She was only 64 years old when she passed away on October 29, 2010.
Ms. Gong Taiqing: Repeatedly Arrested
Ms. Gong, a farmer, became bedridden at the age of 39 due to lumbar disc herniation and hypertrophy of the fifth vertebra, the lowest and largest of the lumbar vertebrae that supports the lower back and connects the lumbar spine to the sacrum. Shortly after she began to practice Falun Gong in February 1998, she recovered. She was full of gratitude for Falun Gong and remained firm in her faith after the persecution started.
On November 3, 2000, Ms. Gong was arrested at home by officers from the Railroad Police Station and held in the Xiangfan Railway Detention Center for a month.
The police broke into Ms. Gong’s home again around 9 p.m. on February 8, 2002 and held her at the Dongcheng Police Station for 19 hours.
Ms. Gong later made a living by repairing shoes. To force her to renounce Falun Gong, the authorities constantly shut down her booth and forced her landlord to evict her. He told her, “I will rent the place to you if you stop practicing Falun Gong.”
Related Report:
Suizhou City, Hubei Province: Seven Arrested in Five Months for Practicing Falun Gong
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