Father of Mr. Lei Jingxiong Appeals for His Son's Innocence

On June 28th, 2009, Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Lei Jingxiong (also known as Lei Lan), 30 years old, from Jiahe County, Chenzhou City, Hunan Province, was arrested by police from the local National Security Team. In 2010, his family received a notice from Duyun Prison in Guizhou Province, saying that Lei Jingxiong was sentenced to eight years imprisonment at Duyun Prison on January 14th.

When his father, Mr. Lei Yuanjun, a 57-year-old peasant, learned from government personnel that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) had sentenced his kind and honest son to eight years on false theft charges he appealed for his son's innocence. He said, "I did not practise Falun Gong, and at the beginning of persecution, I even tried to hinder my son from practising Falun Gong. I shouted at and beat him, and took away his book, but I still could not stop him from practising. I then decided to read the Falun Gong book, Zhuan Falun, and identified with the book's theme of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, and tried to be a good person."

The father said his son was always kind and honest ever since he was young. When his son was in elementary school, he would clean the well in the village every month. This was usually done by paid personnel, but his son was always doing good deeds.

In 2000, the large amount of cheating on college entrance exams in Jiahe County was exposed, and the news was reported across the whole country. Many students had cheated, but Mr. Lei Jingxiong was noted for taking the exam honestly. He had been practising Falun Gong for three years. After half a semester in Normal University in Changsha City, Hunan Province, he was recommended to the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing for his academic excellence. Having been such an excellent student both in academics and character, he was quickly dismissed from the school simply because he practised Falun Gong. Now he was being sentenced to eight years on phony charges.

On his way to a new job recommended by his relative, Mr. Lei Jingxiong was arrested by police from the National Security Team at Baiyun Airport. He was sentenced afterward. His father was not told the details of the so-called crime, who the public prosecutor was, when and where he was put on trial, or if he had hired an attorney. The theft charge was even more unbelievable without any evidence presented: Where did Lei Jingxiong steal from? What did he steal, and at what time and location? There were no witnesses or evidence.

On August 18th, 2004, Mr. Lei Jingxiong was tortured until he passed out at the Tianxin Public Security Bureau in Changsha City, Hunan Province, and was sent to a crematory. Fortunately, a policewoman on duty discovered that he was still alive, so he was not cremated. However, his face was severely disfigured. His left eye was swollen, and his chin and face were slanted to one side. Before his 2009 arrest, he had been frequently arrested, detained, tortured, fined, robbed, and harassed by local police, and his family also suffered greatly.

His father has written letters to different departments of the central CCP, governments in Guizhou and Hunan Provinces, the National People's Congress, the Politics and Law committee, public security organs, different departments in Xishui County, Guizhou Province, and also Duyun Prison, appealing for the release of his son.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2010/6/9/225106.html