Persecution of Falun Gong Continues in Inner Mongolia

An engineer, a teacher, and two other Falun Gong practitioners were sentenced by the Baotou City Court at a show trial in Inner Mongolia on October 24th. The terms ranged from four to seven years. The four practitioners had already been detained for one and a half years prior to the sentencing.

Chen Jianyong (陈建勇), 49, a former engineer with the Bureau of Land of Baotou Railways, was sentenced to seven years in prison. He was arrested on April 1st, 2013 along with Huang Zhaoxia (黄朝霞) and Wu Yuehong (吴月红) at Ms. Huang's residence. The police used a crane to break through the door and windows to gain access inside the home. Ms. Huang, a former teacher, and Ms. Wu were sentenced to five and four years, respectively. A fourth practitioner, Zhang Ruitong (张瑞童) was sentenced to seven years.

An earlier trial of Mr. Chen, Ms. Huang and Ms. Wu was held on December 30th, 2013. Defence lawyers and family members were not allowed to audit the session. The trial adjourned without a verdict.

Abused in Detention

Mr. Chen was beaten and subjected to sleep deprivation at his current place of detention.

This was not Chen's first imprisonment. He was previously sentenced to five years and imprisoned in 2006 and 2011. Mr. Chen had been homeless and without family upon his release from the Huhehaote Men's Prison in 2011.

In a letter from prison dated May 13th, 2011, Mr. Chen described the brutality of his incarceration: “I have been surviving unbearable tortures and tests of life and death. I have no tears, sadness or hatred. I have gone through forced-feeding of chilli water and lost the ability to speak for half a year. My nails were pierced through with bamboo sticks. I was burned with irons and force-fed human excrement. The humiliation, coercion, temptations, threats and tortures I was subjected to seemed endless...”

When imprisoned in 2006 and 2011, Mr. Chen wasn't allowed to sleep in his cell for over two years. Instead, he was forced to sleep on the floor of a public area. The inmates on duty left the windows open during the frigid winters of Inner Mongolia. Mr. Chen's ears were damaged from freezing.