(Minghui.org) A middle school teacher in Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province, was recently sentenced to 4.5 years by a court in Shangdu County, Inner Mongolia, for talking to people about the persecution of his faith, Falun Gong.
Mr. Xi Zhaojun was arrested on July 8, 2025, while he traveled to Shangdu County. The arresting officers from the Daheishatu Town Police Station gave him 15 days at the Houqi Lockup in Shangdu.
The police in Shangdu worked with their counterparts in Zhangjiakou to ransack Mr. Xi’s and his mother’s homes on July 15. They confiscated their Falun Gong books, a portrait of the founder of Falun Gong, and his mother’s cell phone.
The Shangdu police didn’t release Mr. Xi on July 24 as promised, but transferred him to the Jining Detention Center in Ulanqab City, Inner Mongolia, that day. On the way there, three officers, surnamed Zhang, Tian, and Ma, kept slapping Mr. Xi in the face. His face became swollen and bled. They also inserted the buckle of the safety belt into his mouth to pry his teeth open. When he resisted, they stabbed his eyes with the buckle and threatened to put him in a psychiatric hospital.
When Mr. Xi’s lawyer visited him eight days later, his face was still swollen and his mouth was bleeding. Several of his teeth were loose and he also had an ulcer in his mouth.
Mr. Xi was put in criminal detention on August 8. The police submitted his case to the Shangdu County Procuratorate on September 29, and he was indicted on October 29.
Mr. Xi appeared in the Shangdu County Court on December 15, 2025. He was sentenced to four and a half years in early February 2026.
This is the second time that Mr. Xi has been sentenced for practicing Falun Gong. Following an arrest on February 24, 2007, the police tied him up and beat him. The police chief Hao Yanfei shouted, “The police station is the place to beat people!” Mr. Xi was later sentenced to four years. He was held in solitary confinement for seven months while serving time at the Jidong Prison.
Reported in July and August 2025: 937 Falun Gong Practitioners Arrested or Harassed for Their Faith