AP: Reports on Sentencing of Falun Gong Practitioners who Broadcast Truth-Clarifying Programs on Cable TV (excerpt)

The Associated Press has reported that fifteen people were sentenced to up to 20 years in prison for tapping into a cable television system to show videos protesting China's ban on Falun Gong.

The sentences were among the longest yet imposed in the campaign to crush the spiritual movement, which was banned in 1999 as a perceived threat to communist rule.

The March 5 broadcasts in Changchun and nearby Songyuan were the first of several successful attempts by Falun Gong practitioners to show the truth-clarifying videos. State media prominently featured news of the sentences. The national evening television news aired a 10-minute report, and a longer program was shown later on state television.

Two defendants were sentenced to 20 years, while others got lesser terms. The shortest was four years.

Hundreds of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners have been detained, and a government official told the Associated Press earlier this year that nearly 1,300 had been sentenced to prison.

Falun Gong practitioners abroad say over a thousand supporters have been killed in detention. [...]

The March 5 broadcasts in Changchun and nearby Songyuan criticized the 1999 ban on Falun Gong, according to residents who saw them. They said the broadcasts showed footage of Falun Gong founder Mr. Li Hongzhi, who now lives in the United States.

The popular news magazine program "Focus," which is broadcast on state television after the main news, devoted a 20-minute report Friday night to the March case. It said the group got on the air by opening relay boxes attached to light poles and buildings and plugging the cables inside into videodisc players.

The evening television news showed the defendants standing in court, the men in green jumpsuits and the women in yellow smocks. A police officer stood on either side of each defendant, holding their arms and forcing them to bow slightly.

According to the report, 300 spectators attended the sentencing in a huge courtroom that appeared to be a converted auditorium. Some defendants looked straight ahead while others closed their eyes as a judge from the Changchun Intermediate-Level People's Court read the verdict.

The trial began Wednesday, according to court officials. They said the court had appointed defence lawyers but wouldn't identify them.

It was said several defendants already had filed appeals.

The longest sentences issued Friday went to two defendants identified as Zhou Runjun and Liu Weimin.

A Changchun police spokesman said earlier this week that Liu and another defendant were engineers who had experience with electrical equipment.

In June, a state-run satellite system briefly displayed messages of support for Falun Gong in a TV broadcast after its signal was tapped into. The government has responded by tightening control of television and satellite systems.

Falun Gong practitioners also have used e-mail and the Internet to explain the facts about the persecution, as well as posting fliers in Chinese cities.