Older Practitioner Mr. Xia Tongmu from Hebei Province Sentenced to Five Years in Prison

Mr. Xia Tongmu, 62 years old, is a Falun Gong practitioner from Xiejiazhuang in Xuzhuang Township, Jizhou City, Hebei Province. He was arrested in September 2009 and brutally tortured. In March 2010 he was sentenced to five years in prison. His lawyer solidly defended against the false charges made against him during the trial. However, he was still sentenced to prison. Mr. Xia is currently detained in Jindong Prison, Tangshan City.

Mr. Xia's wife, who is over 60 years old, and his daughter are very worried about his safety. His wife has been deeply depressed since the ordeal began.

Mr. Xia Tongmu started to practise Falun Gong in 1997 and recovered from his illnesses without any medical treatment. He follows the principle of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and thinks of others first. People around him know that Falun Gong is good because of him.

However, since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started to persecute Falun Gong on July 20th, 1999, Mr. Xia has been arrested many times.

Mr. Xia was arrested and detained in the Jizhou Detention Centre for 47 days in October 1999. Later when he visited his relatives in Tianjin, the police from the township police station considered his visit as an appeal for Falun Gong, so they went to Tianjin, seized him and took him back, and fined him 1,000 yuan¹.

In March 2000, Mr. Xia was arrested at home and detained in the Jizhou Detention Centre for 15 days. Li Jianjun, deputy head of the Jizhou Police Department, and Zhao Guoshen from the political and security section were directly involved in Mr. Xia's case.

On May 20th, 2000, Mr. Xia was taken to the township office from his home. He was beaten and threatened, and was shocked with an electric baton. Li Yinghao from the Xuzhuang Township government and police from the township police station, including Gao Shufan, Guo Shuangnian, Wang Jiegong, Sun Tao, and Zhao Jiantang, were involved in his arrest and torture. Later Mr. Xia was sent to the Jizhou Detention Centre and detained for 38 days. At the detention centre, he was tortured and shocked with electric batons several times, resulting in his body being covered with wounds.

On the afternoon of September 18th, 2009, Du Jianting from the Henshui Domestic Security Division and several people from the Jizhou Police Department and the 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) broke into Mr. Xia's home. They searched his home and confiscated personal property, including a personal computer. They arrested him and put him in the Henshui Detention Centre. After suffering brutal torture, he was sent back to the Jizhou Detention Centre.

After being detained in the detention centre for half a year, he was put on trial. Xia Qizeng from Jizhou City Court was directly involved in the case.

Mr. Xia's daughter hired a lawyer for him. During the two court sessions, the lawyer strongly defended Mr. Xia against the false charges from the police, including Liu Lishuang, Zhang Jinbiao, Dong Fanglin, and Li Xiangfei. However, Mr. Xia was still sentenced to five years in prison by a Jizhou Court judge.

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/2011/1/13/34832.html