(Minghui.org) Two residents of Jinzhou City, Liaoning Province were sentenced to prison for their shared faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Mr. Sun Jian, 55, was given five years, and Ms. Zhang Yaming received two years. They were both arrested on April 13, 2024. Officers Gao Feng and Li Guoqing from the Zijing Police Station submitted their cases to the Linghai City Procuratorate on June 18. Linghai is under the administration of Jinzhou. The Linghai City Procuratorate and Linghai City Court have been designated to handle Falun Gong cases in the greater Jinzhou region.
Prosecutor Li Feng forwarded Mr. Sun and Ms. Zhang’s cases to the Linghai City Court in early July 2024. The two practitioners stood trial on October 15 and were convicted weeks later.
Past Persecution of Mr. Sun
Mr. Sun used to work at the Agricultural Bank of China in Panshan County, Liaoning Province. He took up Falun Gong in 1997. After the persecution began, he was repeatedly targeted for his faith. Prior to his latest persecution episode, he was twice given one year of forced labor and sentenced to four years in prison. His wife was unable to cope and divorced him.
Officers Du Yang and Dai Wen from the Shixin Town Police Station raided Mr. Sun’s home on July 24, 1999, four days after the persecution began. They confiscated five of his Falun Gong books. On November 25, 1999, eighteen days after his daughter’s birth, chief Zhao Hongwei, instructor Cao Zhiyou, and officer Wang Yaohui from the same police station arrested him and took him to the Panshan County Lockup. His wife, a middle school teacher, was deceived into paying a 2,000-yuan bond without receiving a receipt.
For doing Falun Gong exercises at the lockup, Mr. Sun was punched and kicked by director Li Hongman and guard Zhang Ximing. He was released at an unknown date.
Liu Chengyuan, secretary of the Panshan County Political and Legal Affairs Committee (an extra-judicial agency tasked with overseeing the persecution), showed up at Mr. Sun’s home on July 31, 2000 and ordered him to renounce Falun Gong. He refused to comply and was taken to the Panshan County Lockup, where he was held for 42 days.
On December 31, 2000, Mr. Sun’s supervisor, bank president Liu Huaiqun, worked hand in glove with the Panshan County Police Department and got him arrested on his way home. Officers Cao Zhiyou and Jin Weiting took him to the Panshan County Lockup. Two months later, he was transferred to the Panshan County Detention Center. After yet another two months, he was given one year of forced labor and admitted to the Panjin city Labor Camp.
Mr. Sun was brutally tortured at the labor camp. One day he tried to stop the guards from beating another practitioner and was shocked with electric batons and punched and kicked himself. Guards Liu Dahan and Chen Changli, along with inmate Ma Gang, whipped him with a rubber club. The bridge of his nose became crooked and the flesh in his mouth was torn. He bled profusely. Only then did the three perpetrators stop.
Other forms of abuse Mr. Sun endured included being forced to stand, squat, or sit motionlessly for long hours, as well as being placed in solitary confinement.
Mr. Sun returned to work after he was released. The police monitored him at work during the day and harassed him at home at night in 2002. On April 23 that year, officers Cao Zhiyou and Yang Heng deceived him into returning home from work in the middle of the day. He managed to escape being arrested, only to be captured months later on September 29 and taken straight to the Panshan County Detention Center.
Mr. Sun went on a hunger strike in protest and was force-fed by detention center doctor Cui. He refused to open his mouth and Cui pierced him with acupuncture needles everywhere on his face, hands and legs. His nose later became so swollen that Cui was unable to insert the feeding tube. Cui then gave him IV drips.
After ten days of hunger strike, Mr. Sun was emaciated and Cui could no longer find his veins. Director Dai was afraid that he might die at the detention center and sent him to the Panshan County Hospital. His employer and multiple local police stations dispatched people to watch him around the clock in three shifts. They even cuffed one of his feet to the hospital bed for fear that he might escape. Despite the tight surveillance, Mr. Sun still managed to escape on October 12, 2002.
Mr. Sun was arrested in Fuxin City (in the same province) on May 18, 2004 and taken to the Xindi Detention Center. He went on a hunger strike and was brutally force-fed by doctors Zhang Lijun, Niu Manshan, Cui Jianguang, and Wang. They shocked him with electric batons once every 30 minutes. Niu also slapped him in the face with shoes, knocking out one of his teeth. He felt piercing pain in his ears.
The doctors and the guards also handcuffed and shackled Mr. Sun, only allowing him to urinate twice a day and defecate once every four days.
The Xihe District Court in Fuxin City held a hearing at the detention center and later sentenced Mr. Sun to four years. He was transferred to the Jinzhou Prison around May 2005. By then he had lost almost half of his body weight after one year at the detention center.
Four prison inmates were assigned to monitor Mr. Sun around the clock, even when he went to the restroom. He was not allowed to talk to other jailed Falun Gong practitioners. In December 2005, he was placed in solitary confinement and brutally tortured. By the time he was released, he only had seven teeth left.
Mr. Sun landed a job in Panjin City in May 2010, only to be arrested at his rental place on September 26 that year, by five agents from the Xinglongtai Domestic Security Division, including Huang Haiou and Wang Chunsheng. They confiscated his laptop, cell phone, flash drives, MP3 player, Falun Gong books and more than 800 yuan in cash.
After 15 days of detention, Mr. Sun was given one year of forced labor and transferred to the Benxi Labor Camp. The guards there ordered him to study materials smearing Falun Gong. When he refused to renounce his faith, he was forced to do hard labor for three months straight. When his term ended, guard Guo Tieying gave him one extra day of detention.
Mr. Sun moved to Jinzhou City in 2017.
Related Article in Chinese:家散谁造成？
Related Report:Jinzhou City, Liaoning Province: Seven Locals Face Trial for Practicing Falun Gong
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