Dengta City Court Officials Sentence Four Innocent Falun Dafa Practitioners to Harsh Prison Terms

A 32-year-old male Dafa practitioner Liu Jianfeng, from Dengta City, Liaoning Province, and his wife Wei Hongyan went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Dafa in December 1999. They were arrested on their way and were illegally detained. The two of them were fined 3,000 Yuan [Chinese currency, an average Chinese urban worker's wage is around 500 Yuan] before they were released.

In December 2000, Wei Hongyan was at home cooking when policemen from the Dengta City Public Security Bureau stormed in, and without following any lawful procedures ransacked her home and took her to the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp, Liu Jianfeng was not home at the time, but he was forced to leave home and stay on the move to avoid arrest.

In September 2002, Liu Jianfeng was briefly reunited with his wife who had just been released from the forced labour camp. They were then arrested by authorities from the Dongerbao Police Station along with two other practitioners, Mr Guan Wenjiang, a 30-year-old, from Xinmin County, Liaoning Province, and Wang Yuxiu, a woman. On the same night, the police and the local "610 Office" [a bureau specifically created by the Chinese government to persecute Falun Gong. It has absolute power over each level of administration in the Party, as well as over the political and judiciary branches] tortured all four of them to gain information. A policeman, who completely lost his sense of decency, struck Liu in the face with the sole of his boot, kicking and punching him at the same time, causing Liu's face to swell. He also fractured two of Liu's ribs on his left side. Guan Wenjiang was also beaten until he was black and blue over his body. The eardrum of his left ear was punctured and injured by the torture. The four of them were subsequently sent to Liaoyang Detention Centre where the police and the inmates continued to torture them. Wei Hongyan was especially targeted because she went on a hunger strike to protest the torture.

A few days ago, officials at the Dengta City Court secretly tried the four practitioners. The practitioners put forth their own defence, which the prosecutor was unable to refute. At the end of the day, the judge convicted the practitioners with some fabricated charges and ended the session hastily. Liu Jianfeng, Guan Wenjiang and Wang Yuxiu were sentenced to a ludicrous 13 years imprisonment while Wei Hongyan was sentenced to 4 years.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/3/13/46385.html