(Minghui.org) An 84-year-old man in Cao County, Shandong Province was admitted to the Shandong Province Prison in August 2026 to serve a 14-month term for his faith in Falun Gong. His family has been denied visits with him.
Mr. Yu Zhiliang was arrested on February 3, 2026, after agents from the Cao County Police Department and the Niji Township Police Station broke into his home at 6 a.m. The police raided the home and seized the 16,000-yuan gift his daughter had given him for the Chinese New Year.
Mr. Yu’s wife, Ms. Yu Peiling, was also arrested but released hours later. Mr. Yu was put in the Cao County Detention Center. His children’s homes were later raided too.
It is unclear which court sentenced Mr. Yu.
Mr. Yu took up Falun Gong in 1996. He held firm to his faith after the persecution of Falun Gong began in July 1999. Prior to his latest prison sentence, he had served a three-year forced labor term and a prior four-year prison term.
He was arrested in June 2001 and given three years of forced labor one month later. While held at the Wangcun Labor Camp, he was forced to sit on a small wooden stool from 4 a.m. to 12 a.m. The guards ordered him to sit straight with his hands on his lap. They inserted a piece of paper in between his knees and tortured him when the paper fell. After just one week of the sitting torture, his buttocks bled to the point that his flesh got stuck to his pants, and his feet were so swollen that his shoes no longer fit. He was unable to walk and had to crawl around.
The guards also forced him to watch videos smearing Falun Gong and its founder during the sitting torture. They also later subjected him to other forms of punishment, including electric shocks, sleep deprivation, slapping in the face, hanging by handcuffed wrists, and forced labor.
Mr. Yu wrote a letter to the Cao County Police Department in the first half of 2010, upon learning that they had arrested some local Falun Gong practitioners. He urged the police to release the practitioners, only to be arrested himself on July 13, 2010.
His wife was also arrested and taken to the Zhuangzhai Police Station along with him. The couple were restrained in metal chairs and interrogated with torture. The police later returned to the couple’s home three more times and confiscated many more valuables.
Mr. Yu was forced to do hard labor while being held in the Cao County Detention Center. The Cao County Court initially sentenced him to probation but was later pressured by the 610 Office to change his sentence to a four-year prison term.
Mr. Yu was admitted to the Tai’an Prison in January 2011 and subjected to various torture methods, including being forced to sit on a small stool and sleep deprivation for long periods of time.