(Minghui.org) A former prison guard in Mudanjiang City, Heilongjiang Province, was sentenced to five years in prison for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Mr. Dai Qihong went missing during a police sweep of Falun Gong practitioners on June 25, 2019. It was confirmed in July that he had been arrested and detained in the Mudanjiang City No.1 Detention Center. 

The local court said his latest arrest was triggered by an earlier arrest in 2017 and sentenced him to prison around October 2019. He is serving his sentence Mudanjiang Prison. 

Latest Prison Term a Result of 2017 Arrest

Mr. Dai was arrested on August 31, 2017, for seeking the release of a detained practitioner. The police confiscated 18,000 yuan cash from him. He went on a hunger strike to protest the arbitrary detention and was twice hospitalized. He was released on bail on March 6, 2018.

On April 8, 2018, the police ordered him to go to the local police station but he refused to go. 

They then told him to go to the Aimin District Procuratorate so that the prosecutor would return the confiscated cash to him.

Mr. Dai went to the procuratorate on April 9, only to be taken to the police station and then to the Aimin District Court. The judge sentenced him to an unknown length of time and ordered the police to take him to prison. 

Both the prison and detention center refused to accept him after he failed the physical. He was released on bail again, before being re-arrested and admitted to the prison one year later.

Marriage Ends in Divorce and Loses Job after Prior Five-Year Imprisonment

Prior to his latest prison term, Mr. Dai, a former guard at Mudanjiang Prison, was arrested on March 20, 2008, and sentenced to five years. He endured savage beatings, force-feedings, and being hung up by the wrists and shocked with electric batons. The guards also deprived him of sleep and forced him to sit on a small stool for long hours. He had injuries all over and was emaciated.

His wife divorced him and he was fired from his job while he was incarcerated. He was destitute after his release.

Related reports:

Man Rushed to Emergency Room for Second Time in Less Than 3 Months of His Detention, Family Threatened to Stay Away from Him

Repeatedly Incarcerated for His Faith, Former Police Officer’s Life in Danger

Mr. Dai Qihong in Critical Condition

Dai Qihong, a Good Policeman, Tortured with Electric Batons in Jiamusi Prison

Practitioners Mr. Hou Xicai and Mr. Dai Qihong Sentenced to Imprisonment