Seventy-two-year-old Mr. Zheng Decai Sentenced to Prison

Name: Zheng Decai
Gender: Male
Age: 72
Address: Zhuanghe City, Dalian, Liaoning Province
Date of Most Recent Arrest: February 15th, 2010
Most Recent Place of Detention: Zhuanghe Detention Centre

City: Dalian
Province: Liaoning
Persecution Suffered: Beatings, imprisonment

Mr. Zheng Decai, 72, a practitioner in Zhuanghe City, Dalian, Liaoning Province, was arrested on the second day of the Chinese New Year 2010. Then in July 2010, he was secretly sentenced to three and a half years in prison.

Mr. Zheng and his son, Mr. Zheng Yongyi, were tortured by Dalian police in 2000 for appealing in Beijing for the right to practise Falun Gong. He was beaten so badly that he lost his hearing. His son suffered a mental breakdown as a result of the torture.

On the night of the second day of the Chinese New Year 2010, Mr. Zheng planned to put up a poster exposing the persecution of Falun Gong outside. Officers from the Dazheng Police Station arrested him on his way.

His family started looking for him after he had been gone for two days. His son had recovered his mental stability after he was released, and resumed Falun Gong practice; however, when he heard of the arrest of his father, the symptoms returned.

Ms. Zheng Yonghua, the eldest daughter of Mr. Zheng, quit her job in Dalian and came home to appeal for her father, but she only got the cold shoulder from people in the police station, police department, and Procuratorate.

Mr. Zheng's second daughter opened a business in her home, and so had someone come to her home to take care of the business for a day. She visited the court in July 2010. Yu Qiang, the judge, said the court would hold a trial for Mr. Zheng during the week. He also took her phone number and told her to wait for notification. She did not get any call and revisited the court ten days later. Yu told her the trial was already over and Mr. Zheng was sentenced to three and a half years in prison. She asked why the family was not informed about the trial. Yu said that they called but no one answered the phone.

Ms. Zheng submitted an appeal for her father on September 7th, 2010.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2010/9/13/229570.html