Practitioners from Tianjin City Sentenced to Prison Terms

After having been detained for nearly fourteen months, practitioners from Tianjin City Liu Huijiang, Yang Qingsheng and others were secretly sentenced at Hedong detention centre by Tianjin City Hedong court in the morning of January 14th, 2010. The court did not notify any of their families.

Practitioners Liu Huijiang, Yang Qingsheng were sentenced to five and four years in prison respectively. Chen Xuehui and Lu Fucheun were sentenced to four and half years. Chen Xueqi and her husband Yang Xuejun were sentenced to two years and delayed for two years. Lu Fuchun had been previously released for medical treatment. On January 14th, he was deceived into going to the Hedong detention centre and was held there. On February the 4th, the warden in Hedong detention centre extorted four hundred Yuan¹ from his family.

Yang Qingsheng refused to sign any documents to acknowledge the persecution. Liu Huijiang requested an appeal and she hired an attorney.

In addition, practitioners Dong Hanzan and Zhang Hongdong were sentenced for three years in prison. Zhang Hongdong is unable to walk due to pulmonary embolism from deep vein thrombosis. He had been treated in Tianjin Armed Police Hospital and Tianjin Tianhe Hospital. In November of 2009, he was released on bail for medical treatment. On January 14th, 2010, his family carried him to the hearing at Hedong detention centre. However, he has not been allowed to come back since. The detention centre extorted six thousand Yuan from his family and said that this was for his medical expenses.

At 4:30 pm on November 30th, 2008, Yang Qingsheng, Liu Huijiang and many other practitioners were gathering at Zhang Hongdong's home at Tianjin City, Xiqing area, Dasi town, Zhangdaokou village, Taijiayuan district. Suddenly the electricity went out. They thought that it was short circuit. As soon as they opened the door, several plainclothes policemen led over thirty policemen in, shouting, beating and taking pictures. They took them all to Hedong detention centre.

On January 7th, 2009, Tianjin Hedong Procuratorate arrested them. Because of lack of evidence, the two so-called appeals were rejected by the court. However, Tianjin City Hedong division still refused to release them. At 1:30 p.m. on August 26th, 2009, Hedong court held a "hearing." No families were allowed to be present.

Liu Huijiang served in the army. Because of his practice of Falun Gong, he was forced to resign in 2003. Later he worked at the Fuji company (the Tianjin division of Fuji company in Japan). He was doing translation and management work. Because he had always followed the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and been diligent in his work, he was well trusted in the company. Later when he was arrested, his family had financial difficulty. His wife and his father who is in his eighties repeatedly requested his release at Hexi area Youyi Road police station. However, they were not allowed to see him and were told, "If you want to see him, wait for several months and hire an attorney."

The address of Tianjin Hedong area People's court: # 68, 11 Road
telephone: Office 24210668

Note

1. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2010/2/25/218797.html