Shandong Man Given Second 4-Year Prison Term for His Faith in Falun Gong
(Minghui.org) Mr. Zhu Tongchao was sentenced to four years on May 30, 2023, for his faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Mr. Zhu, a native of Tancheng County, Shandong Province, was arrested together with his younger brother, Mr. Zhu Tonggui, on May 23, 2018. The brothers had been repeatedly targeted for practicing Falun Gong and lived in a rental home in Linyi City, Shandong Province at the time of their arrests.
Officer Liu Helei and others from the Lanshan District Domestic Security Office and Xijiao Police Station, both in Linyi City, used a metal bar to pry open the brothers’ rental home’s skylight and climbed down to seize them.
The police confiscated their computer and cash. During the raid, an officer held a metal bar to threaten the brothers, and another officer even held a gun against Mr. Zhu Tongchao’s head.
The brothers were taken to the Lanshan District Police Station and interrogated with torture there for more than twenty hours. They were transferred to the Linyi City Detention Center the next afternoon.
The detention center guards beat Mr. Zhu Tonggui and put him in handcuffs and shackles in a position that made it impossible for him to stand up straight.
Torture illustration: Handcuffs chained to shackles
During their detention, the brothers were interrogated by agents from the Tancheng County Domestic Security Office.
Mr. Zhu Tongchao was later released on bail and sentenced to prison on May 30, 2023. It is unclear whether he has been taken back into custody to serve time.
His brother, on the other hand, remained in detention and was denied family visits and other forms of communication. Mr. Zhu Tonggui was secretly sentenced to prison, for a possible nine-year term, in March 2020.
Prior Prison Sentence
Mr. Zhu Tongchao was arrested by Xing Anhua of Tancheng County Police Department in November 2001 and held at a local detention center for about nine months, before being sentenced to four years in prison.
While serving time at Weibei Prison, Mr. Zhu was subjected to various forms of abuse, such as being allowed only four hours of sleep every night, being forced to do heavy labor without pay, having food portions cut, and being prohibited from wearing jackets during winter months.
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