(Minghui.org) A U.S. Congressman is calling on Xi Jinping, head of the Chinese Communist Party, to end its 23-year-long persecution of Falun Gong, one day after a senior geological engineer from Shengli Oilfield, Dongying City, Shandong Province stood trial in Dongying District Court for his support of Falun Gong.
In a letter written on August 26, 2022, Rep. Gus M. Bilirakis expressed his concern about Mr. Zhou Deyong. He noted that Mr. Zhou endured “numerous civil rights violations,” and called on the Chinese authorities to issue a “fair and just resolution to his improper arrest and detainment.”
Rep. Bilirakis’ letter to Xi (PDF)
Mr. Zhou was arrested at home on April 23, 2021. The police raided his home and confiscated over 100 Falun Gong books and some informational materials that belonged to his wife, a Falun Gong practitioner who fled China to avoid persecution and is currently living in Florida with their son.
Mr. Zhou has since been held at the Binhai Detention Center. Ma Jian, deputy head of the Binhai Public Security Bureau, and An Maosen, director of the Domestic Security Office, fabricated evidence against Mr. Zhou in order to press a prison sentence against him. It was reported that the Dongying District Court is planning another hearing of Mr. Zhou’s case.
In addition to Mr. Zhou, Rep. Bilirakis also expressed his concern regarding nine other practitioners who were arrested on the same day. Among them, Mr. Geng Shoutian, Mr. He Baiqing, Ms. Meng Yu, Ms. Meng Fanyun, Ms. Guo Hongyan, and Ms. Liu Yanmei have already been tried by the same court.
In particular, Ms. Meng Yu was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison and fined 30,000 yuan on June 23, 2022. At the Binhai Detention Center, she was beaten by her cellmates, and two pairs of her glasses were broken as a result. The guards also handcuffed and shackled her several times over a total of six weeks.
Rep. Bilirakis urged Xi to “stop the persecution of all Falun Gong practitioners,” as well as “respect their human rights of freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, and allow Mr. Zhou to reunite with his family and friends as soon as possible.”
In addition to Rep. Bilirakis, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, also joined the effort to rescue Mr. Zhou.
Senator Rubio wrote to Secretary of State Antony Blinken on August 30, 2021, urging him to “call on Beijing to end its criminalization of Falun Gong, and to release all Falun Gong practitioners who are held in prisons and various detention centers in the PRC.”
Perpetrators’ contact information:
Zhang Ting (张婷), presiding judge of Dongying District Court in charge of Mr. Zhou’s case: +86-546-8265070, +86-15154638966Ji Penghui (纪鹏辉), judge of Dongying District Court: +86-546-8265069, +86-15865455757An Maosen (安茂森), head of Domestic Security Office: +86-18205461695, +86-546-8268076
(More perpetrators’ contact information is available in the original Chinese article.)
Related reports:
Man Faces Trial in China, Wife and Son in Florida Call for His Release
U.S. State Department to Senator Marco Rubio: “We Share Your Concerns”
U.S. Congress Members Urge Release of Florida Residents’ Relatives Detained in China for Their Faith
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