(Minghui.org) A 69-year-old resident of Fuxin City, Liaoning Province was sentenced to four years for his faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Mr. Zhen Shijie was arrested on July 31, 2022 by agents from the Hebei Police Station. His home was raided afterwards, and all his Falun Gong books, a computer, and printer were confiscated. He stood trial at the Fumeng County Court on November 26, 2022. Judge Li Bo sentenced him not long after. He was transferred from the Fumeng County Detention Center to the Jinzhou Prison on May 18, 2023.
This is not the first time that Mr. Zhen has been targeted for his faith.
On January 23, 2001, the day before the Chinese New Year, the communist regime staged a self-immolation incident on Tiananmen Square and claimed that the self-immolators were Falun Gong practitioners – when none of them was. The public were horrified by the incident and became hostile toward Falun Gong. Mr. Zhen went to Beijing shortly after the incident to appeal for Falun Gong and debunk the slanderous propaganda. He was arrested and taken back to Fuxin.
The Qinghemen District Court sentenced Mr. Zhen to three years on April 27, 2001. He suffered severe abuse in Division 12 of the Liaoning Province Second Prison, where he was forced to do hard labor and attend brainwashing sessions. He spent the last eight months of his prison term in an isolation cell.
The police kept harassing Mr. Zhen at home after he was released, forcing him to live away from home for a period of time.
Mr. Zhen was arrested again on May 29, 2012, while distributing Falun Gong informational materials in Zidutai Township. Captain Wang Peng of the Fuxin County Domestic Security Office gave Mr. Zhen one year and three months of forced labor.
At Masanjia Labor Camp in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, Mr. Zhen was subjected to various forms of abuse, including long-term sleep deprivation, restricted restroom use, suspicious blood tests, electric shocks, being slapped in the face, and being forced to sit motionless on a small stool for up to 20 hours a day. At one point his blood pressure shot up to 180 mmHg (a healthy range is no more than 120 mmHg), but the guards still forced him to do hard labor.
While Mr. Zhen was in detention, his mother, then in her 80s, worried about him constantly.
Mr. Zhen was arrested again on May 16, 2016, after he shouted “Falun Dafa is good” outside the Haizhou District Court in support of another practitioner facing trial there.
During Mr. Zhen’s hearing on November 29, 2016, judge Cui Yi of the Haizhou District Court kept interrupting his lawyer as he defended his client’s constitutional right to freedom of belief. At one point, Cui said, “I’ve studied law for more than 30 years. Don’t you talk to me about the law!”
Perpetrators’ contact information:
Hebei Police Station: +86-418-2822740Li Gao (李暠), police chiefWang Jianfeng (王建峰), deputy chief: +86-15134035115Fumeng County Court: +86-418-8312434, +86-18740185539Li Bo (李博), judge
Related Report:
Judge in Falun Gong Trial: “Don’t You Talk to Me About the Law!”
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