Older Falun Gong Practitioner Xu Daoming Sentenced to Prison by Shantou City Court, Guangdong Province

Name: Xu Daoming
Gender: Male
Age: Approximately 60 years old
Address: Fuxi Community, Shantou
Date of Most Recent Arrest: August 11th, 2011
Most Recent Place of Detention: Tuopu Detention Centre
City: Shantou
Province: Guangdong
Persecution Suffered: Home ransacked, detention

On January 12th, 2012, a Shantou City Court judge charged innocent Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Xu Daoming with “Sabotaging law implementation through using a cult”, and sentenced him to one year and three months in prison. This false charge was fabricated by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in order to deceive citizens who don’t know the truth about Falun Gong.

Mr. Xu Daoming has practised Falun Gong for many years. He is kind to others and never fought or competed for personal gain. He is considered a good person in his community. In court, he defended himself by sharing his own experience to validate the intellectual and physical benefits received from practising Falun Gong. He stated that Falun Gong is a righteous cultivation practice which teaches people to be kind and compassionate.

His lawyer also defended him. One judge asked his lawyer, “Can you tell me what Falun Gong is?” He replied that Falun Gong is a belief system and a righteous cultivation practice.

The court allowed only two members of Mr. Xu's family to attend the hearing. The rest of the attendees included officials from the street committee, the local 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong), Shantou 610 Office, and officers from the Public Security Bureau and Jinping 610 Office. The hearing lasted from 9:00 a.m. till 2:00 p.m.

The Shantou City Jinping court had previously conducted two trials against Mr. Xu. During the first trial, his lawyer defended him with appropriate reasoning. He pleaded not guilty due to the lack of evidence, and the trial lasted only thirty minutes. The second trial lasted from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Due to his lawyer’s defence and his own experience of following the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, the prosecutor was unable to reach a verdict.

The following account represents the activities surrounding Mr. Xu's arrest.

On the morning of August 11th, 2011, approximately 50 people including policemen from the Shantou 610 Office, Shantou Public Security Bureau and Guangsha Police Station came to inspect the food court run by Mr. Xu. Later, they ransacked his home without presenting any legal documentation or warrant. They subsequently arrested Mr. Xu. Since that time, he has been held (for over one year) in the Shantou City Tuopu Detention Centre.