(Minghui.org) A 94-year-old man in Jixi City, Heilongjiang Province, is facing repeated threats to put him in jail to serve a three-year term given in 2021. The judge who convicted him claimed that he is fit for imprisonment as long as he is able to eat.
Mr. Xu Shujun’s ordeal began on August 30, 2017, when both he and his late wife, Ms. Wang Chuanyun, were arrested for hanging up banners bearing messages about the Chinese Communist Party’s persecution of their shared faith, Falun Gong. The couple was released on bail hours later, but was later indicted by prosecutor Yin Shaoduo of the Jidong County Procuratorate. The banners were found in Jidong County, which is under the administration of Jixi City.
Judge Gai Qiuhai of the Jidong County Court sentenced the couple to three years with a 10,000-yuan fine each in early September 2021. The couple’s daughter soon noted that their joint bank account was frozen. She was told this was because her parents “failed to pay their court fine.” When she rushed to the court to pay the fine, she was told that the full amount had already been garnished from her parents’ bank account.
The Jixi City Social Security Bureau also suspended the couple’s pension not long after their sentencing. To avoid jail time, the couple went into hiding. The Jidong County Domestic Security Office closely monitored their daughter, who took care of them in their displacement, and eventually tracked down their location.
The police showed up at the couple’s rental home on August 14, 2025, and said that they planned to grant them medical parole and close the case. They returned on August 25 and took the couple to the Jixi City People’s Hospital for physical exams. Six officers video-recorded the whole process. The couple was sent home afterward, but the police came again on August 27 to interrogate them. Officer Wang Qing told the couple’s daughter, “Wang Chuanyun’s days are numbered. You'd better ask your relatives to come back and see her one last time.”
Ms. Wang died on September 16, 2025. She was around 86. Nine days later, the police came to harass her husband.
The Jidong County Procuratorate, the Nanshan Police Station in Jiguan District, Jixi City, and the Nanshan Community together notified Mr. Xu on October 20, 2025, that they needed his medical records for parole purposes. His daughter took him to the Jixi City Chinese Medicine Hospital on October 24, and he was hospitalized for 13 days.
Judge Gai instructed people to take Mr. Xu to the Jixi City Hospital on December 19, for a “medical evaluation.” On December 26, the police came again. He had lost 13 pounds while mourning his wife’s passing and enduring relentless harassment from the judge and the police. He was bedridden and wearing a diaper. He also lost his hearing and could only eat rice congee. Even the police were shocked to see him in such a terrible state. One officer blurted out, “How did this old man lose so much weight?”
Judge Gai expressed the following to Mr. Xu’s daughter on January 12, 2026,
- The Jixi City Intermediate Court’s Technical Division said the old man does not meet the medical parole requirements.- The medical records issued by the Jixi City Chinese Medicine Hospital indicated he can still live five or six more years, so he’s not eligible for parole.- No doctor at the Jixi City People’s Hospital would sign the necessary paperwork attesting to his parole eligibility, so he needs to go to Harbin (the capital city of Heilongjiang Province) for further medical evaluation. If he refuses, the police will put him in jail.
Harbin is over 300 miles away. Totally incapacitated, Mr. Xu could not afford such long-distance travel. Two officers from the Jidong County Police Department came to take his picture on January 22 and warned that they’d come once every month.
Judge Gai threatened Mr. Xu’s daughter on January 24, saying, “If your father refuses to go to Harbin, I can invite people from Harbin here, and you will have to cover all their expenses. While your father cannot take care of himself, I can still have him jailed as long as he’s able to eat.”
Mr. Xu’s mental and physical health kept deteriorating due to the relentless harassment and intimidation. His daughter is also under tremendous stress, fearing she will lose him at any moment.
Husband and Wife in Their 80s Sentenced to Prison for Their Faith
Two Heilongjiang Women Sentenced to Prison for Hanging up Banners Bearing Falun Gong Message