(Minghui.org) Mr. He Pengfei, 57, from Fuzhou City, Fujian Province, was sentenced to four years for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Mr. He Pengfei was arrested on May 22, 2024 and taken to the Fuzhou City Second Detention Center. Prosecutor Cai Xiaoqin of the Minqing County Procuratorate indicted him at an unknown date. Minqing is under the administration of Fuzhou.
The Minqing County Court heard the case on November 5, 2024. Presiding judge Liu Xiaoxia claimed that this was a “non-public” hearing and barred Mr. He’s family, except for his brother and cousin, from attending the trial. By law, only cases involving state secrets or other special circumstances may be closed to the public and all other cases, including Falun Gong cases, should be open to the public.
The prosecution evidence included surveillance videos which showed Mr. He distributing Falun Gong informational materials. His lawyer pointed out that the police’s surveillance of Mr. He broke the law in the first place because he didn’t do anything wrong to warrant the monitoring. Additionally, no law in China criminalizes Falun Gong; so it’s not illegal to distribute information about Falun Gong.
Mr. He also testified in his own defense and emphasized that his distributing Falun Gong materials did not cause any harm to any individual or society at large. He requested an acquittal, but judge Liu still sentenced him later at an unknown date. The ruling also bore the signatures of judge Zhang Tingting and clerk Zhang Xiaofei.
Mr. He is in the process of filing an appeal.
Mr. He joined the army in 1986 and retired in December 2002. Years of training and service in the military took a toll on his health and he developed numerous illnesses, including cervical spondylosis, liver cysts, lung shadows, urticaria, and prostatic hyperplasia. After he began practicing Falun Gong in 2011, all his illnesses disappeared and he also learned to be a better person. He excelled at his civilian job at the Fuzhou Culture, Radio, Television, Press and Publication Bureau and was promoted to a director position in 2013.
In his spare time, Mr. He worked hard to raise awareness of the persecution. He was arrested on June 7, 2015 and later sentenced to 5.5 years. After he was released in December 2020, he learned that he had been fired from his job in March 2017. His 35 years of service were also wiped out from his pension calculation. He also lost his health insurance and other benefits. Besides the financial persecution, he also faced frequent harassment from the local police. From January to April 2021 alone, he was harassed three times but he held firm to his faith.
Once Jailed for 5.5 Years, 57-Year-Old Fujian Veteran Faces Indictment Again for His Faith