With Mother and Wife's Lives Claimed by Persecution of Falun Gong, Shandong Man Sentenced Again for Their Shared Faith
(Minghui.org) Mr. Li Yongxin was sentenced to four years in prison for not giving up his faith in Falun Gong.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a meditation practice that improves mental and physical wellness. The Chinese Communist Party has been persecuting the practice for 21 years and counting.
Mr. Li, of Linyi City, Shandong Province, was arrested in August 2019 for giving out Falun Gong fliers. He was tried by Lanshan District Court on January 9, 2020 and sentenced to four years for “undermining law enforcement with a cult organization,” a pretext used by the Chinese court system to frame and imprison Falun Gong practitioners.
Mr. Li is not the only person targeted in his family for practicing Falun Gong. His younger brother was given three years of forced labor in 2001. He was sentenced to 10 years in 2002, and their mother died in agony later that year. His wife fell to her death in 2003 while trying to escape arrest, and the police beat her son and blamed him for killing his mother.
Ten-Year Prison Term
Mr. Li and his wife, parents, and brothers took up Falun Gong in 1995. As a long-distance bus driver, he once found a suitcase left behind by a passenger with over 100,000 yuan in cash inside. He waited at the bus terminal until the passenger returned to look for his suitcase. The passenger offered Mr. Li a cash reward, but he declined. This happened several times. As it was uncommon in China for people to return lost items, especially cash, to their owners, many of his colleagues were impressed by how practicing Falun Gong inspired him to uphold high morals.
After the persecution started, Mr. Li and his family went to Beijing to petition to the central government in January 2000. At Tiananmen Square, police beat Mr. Li and arrested his whole family. They were taken back to Linyi and detained for over a month.
From then on, the authorities frequently harassed and monitored Mr. Li and his wife. They were forced to leave home to avoid further persecution.
Mr. Li was arrested again in 2002 and tortured on a “tiger bench” and hung up by his wrists. He was later sentenced to ten years in Shandong First Prison.
Torture illustration: Tiger Bench
Younger Brother Given Forced Labor, Mother Dies of Grief
The local police arrested Mr. Li’s younger brother when he was telling others about Falun Gong and the persecution in January 2000. They beat him black and blue and shaved his head to humiliate him. The police clubbed him with a shovel until it broke.
He was interrogated and tortured at Hedong District Police Department. The police burnt and charred his fingernails and toenails. The police extorted 10,000 yuan from him before allowing him to go home.
The younger Mr. Li was arrested at another time in July 2001 when he told people about the persecution. The police gave him three years in a forced labor camp and fined him 4,500 yuan.
The police also attempted to arrest Mr. Li. Although he escaped this time, he was arrested months later and sentenced to a heavy prison term.
Mr. Li’s mother suffered tremendous distress at the plight of her sons. The family also struggled financially because of the frequent home ransacking and fines. She was angry and worried. She passed away in January 2002 and could not see her sons for the last time.
Wife Falls to Her Death While Trying to Escape Arrest
Mr. Li’s Wife, Ms. Zhou Xiangmei, was arrested in 2000 because she refused to give up Falun Gong. She was tortured in a brainwashing center in Linyi City and later transferred to a mental hospital in Jining City for more intense torture. The authorities also suspended her salary.
Ms. Zhou was forced to flee home in July 2002 upon realizing the police were looking for her. Her son, a college student, had to live with his aunt.
When Ms. Zhou went to see her son a year later on June 19, 2003, however, the police surrounded the place and attempted to arrest her.
Ms. Zhou refused to open the door and waited until midnight, after the officers went to sleep in their cars, which blocked the exit of the apartment. She tried to escape through the window on the 6th floor using a rope knotted from shredded bedsheets. The rope broke loose as she made her way down, and she fell to the balcony on the first floor. She died from the impact, at the age of 47. The police immediately claimed her body and cremated it.
Son Lives with Grandfather
After Ms. Zhou’s tragic death, the police attempted to blame her son, Mr. Li Ning, for her death. They interrogated and threatened the young man at Chezhan Police Station. They also forged the deposition claiming that the son let go of the rope and killed his own mother. They beat him and ruptured his nose and lips.
The son’s health deteriorated, and he moved in with his grandfather, who was in his 70s. The grandfather, after losing his wife and daughter-in-law and having both of his sons incarcerated, often held his grandson and cried bitterly. He had to take a janitorial job to pay the bills. He asked the authorities for leniency and to release his sons early but couldn’t get any help.
Although Mr. Li Ning graduated from college, he couldn’t find gainful employment and had to work odd jobs because of the persecution of his parents.
Related reports:
The Story Behind the Death of Ms. Zhou Xiangmei of Linyi City, Shandong Province
Persecuted to Death: Practitioner Ms. Zhou Xiangmei from Linqi City, Shandong Province
Report on Li Ning, Son of Ms. Zhou Xiangmei, a Falun Dafa Practitioner Who Was Tortured to Death