To Imprisonment for Practicing their Faith (8/28/00)

The Chinese government itself reports that over 35,000 Falun Gong practitioners were detained in the first few months of China's crackdown. Since then, thousands more have been arrested, detained, sent to labor camps without trial, and been deprived of their jobs and homes. Below are a few cases of those given formal sentences.

Zhuang Jian, sentenced to 4 years in prison Chen Tuoyu, sentenced to 3 and half years in prison Xu Yufang, sentenced to 3 years in prison They were charged and sentenced for the so-called offense of "organizing evil religion to obstruct the implementation of law". The trial was held at around 8:30am on July 5, in the People's Court of Guanghan City, Sichuan Province Li Hongkui (male), Falun Dafa contact person, sentenced to 3 and half years in prison Wu Hongzhu (male), sentenced to 3 years in prison The trial was held on May 30, in the people's court of Dao-li district, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province. In October 1998, practitioners in Harbin went to the Harbin Daily publishing house to request the clarification of a fabricated report on Falun Gong. On April 25,1999, practitioners in Harbin volunteered to go to Beijing to appeal to the central government and to report the truth of Falun Gong (note: as a matter of record, most of them arrived in Beijing on April 26). They were sentenced under the charge of "organizing the above two events". Zhang Wenjing (female, 53), from Shijiazhuang City Wu Jinhu (male), from Shijiazhuang City Shi Jinhua (female), Ms. Zhang Wenjing, Mr. Wu Jinhu and Shi Jinhua Dafa practitioners from Shijiazhuang City, were detained on February 25 under the charge of organizing Falun Gong group practice at the Hebei Theater during the Spring Festival. On March 25, after serving a 30-day detention, their penalty was changed to criminal arrest. At 9am, June 14, the People's Court of Changan District of Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province held the 1st-round trial for them. They were brutally tortured while in detention in the No.1 Detention Center (of Shijiazhuang City). Liu Ying (female), a practitioner from Leshan, sentenced to 3 years in prison, without any legal proceedings, under the charge of "having illicit relations with foreign countries and leaking military secrets" Cao Junjian, an employee of the Jianshe Bank of Guangan County, sentenced to 3 and half years in prison Cao Junjian was detained in October 1999 for having gone to Beijing to report the truth of Falun Gong to the central government. On May 25 he was put on trial, after being detained in the Guangan Detention Center for about 8 months.. A few days later, the police secretly sentenced Cao Junjiang to three and a half-years in prison. Wu Yunrui, former deputy director of the An-hui Tourist Bureau, sentenced to 3 years in prison Jiang Feng, sentenced to 3 years in prison Yang Jingfang, sentenced to 3 years in prison According to Xin-hua Net on May 31, the trial was at the people's court of West District of He-fei City, An-hui Province. The charges against them were fabricated . Picture of the clandestine Falun Gong press conference Jiang Zhaohui (male, age 35, a former director of a foreign investment firm in Fuzhou, Fujian Province), a main organizer of a Falun Gong press conference and Guang-zhou experience sharing conference, sentenced to 5 years in prison. Zhang Ke, a main organizer of Falun Gong press conference and Guang-zhou experience sharing conference, sentenced to 3 years in prison Lei Xiaoting (female), who acted as the interpreter for the news conference, was sentenced to 2 years in prison Note: In October 1999, while a top Chinese leader attacked Falun Gong as an "evil religion" publicly in France, over thirty practitioners including the above three courageously held a secret Falun Gong news conference in Beijing, in order to tell the world the truth of Falun Gong. This news conference was very successfuland had drawn attention from the international media such as AP and Reuters. Li Jianhui, the former Falun Gong contact person in Shen-zhen, sentenced to 4 years in prison under the charge of "organizing and using a cult to violate the implementation of the law". According to Duowei Chinese News-net, trial was held at the Fu-tian district People's Court of Shen-zhen City, Guangdong Province Zhou Jiarong, an employee of Shen-shen Corporation, a former Falun Gong contact person of the Wuhan City assistance center, was sentenced to two years in prison and imposed a fine of 10,000 Yuan for publishing Falun Gong books. Chen Jing, an employee of Shen-shen Corporation, was sentenced to one year and imposed a fine of 5,000 Yuan for publishing Falun Gong books. The charges against them were applied retroactively. Xu Xianglan (female, from Wuhan, Hubei Province, formerly the Falun Gong key contact person in Wuhan) was sentenced to prison for 8 years under the accusation of "organizing and using heretic organization"; Wang Hansheng (male, Xu's husband, from Wuhan, Hubei Province. He was the president of the Shenshen Corporation and not a Falun Gong practitioner), was sentenced to prison for 6 years, for selling Falun Gong books.

Shi Lei (an employee of Shenshen Corp. and Falun Gong practitioner), was sentenced to 1 year in prison and was imposed a fine of 5,000 Yuan. (Note: The charges against the Shen-shen Corporation owner and employees were applied retroactively.) Feng Fei (male, from Changsha, Hunan Province), Tan Mimi (female, from Changsha) and Tan's father (from Changsha. He is not a Falun Gong practitioner), were all accused of selling Falun Dafa books, and put on trial on March 2, 2000 in Changsha, Hunan Province. The trial was concluded in less than half an hour. Feng Fei and Tan Mimi's father were sentenced 5 years in prison. Tan Mimi was sentenced 3 years in prison. Gao Qiuju (female, age 59, a trading company manager in Dalian, Liaoning Province, and the key Falun Gong contact person in Dalian) was sentenced to nine years in prison by the Xigang district court in Dalian. He was sentenced on February 1, 2000under the charge of "using an evil cult to disturb social stability and for leaking state secrets." Li Xiaobing (female, from Beijing), and Li Xiaomei (female, from Beijing, Li Xiaobing's sister), were convicted of "illegal trade" for using their Beijing video store to sell Falun Gong books and videos. Li Xiaobing was jailed for 6 years and her sister for 7 years, amid intense security, during a daylong trial at Beijing's Eastern Intermediate People's Court on Jan. 28, 2000. Yu Changxin (male, 74, a former Decorated Air Force Command Academy professor), was sentenced to prison for 17 years on January 6, 2000, during a secret court martial. Reliable sources said he was sentenced under the accusation of "supporting Falun Gong." Xu Xinmu (male, from Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province), was sentenced to 4 years in prison under the charge of "leaking state secrets", for releasing a speech by a top Chinese leader regarding the persecution of Falun Gong. Li Fujun (male, 37, an associate professor of Xinxiang Medical University in central Henan Province), was sentenced to 4 years in prison. The court accused him of posting an article on the Internet on the healing effectiveness of Falun Gong. Li Chang (male, from Beijing), was sentenced to prison for 18 years; Wang Zhiwen (male, from Beijing), was sentenced to prison for 16 years; Ji Liewu (male, from Beijing), was sentenced to prison for 12 years; Yao Jie (female, from Beijing), was sentenced to prison for 7 years. The Hong Kong-based Information Center of Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China said that Li Chang, Wang Zhiwen and Ji Liewu are in the First Prison of Beijing; Yao Jie is in the Women's Prison of Beijing. They were the key members of the Falun Gong Research Society in China. According to official Chinese media, they have been arrested in China on a range of charges that include "holding and deliberately leaking state secrets", and "using a cult to break the law.", Li, Wang, Ji and Yao on trial Song Yuesheng (male, from Haikou, Hainan Province) was sentenced to prison for 12 years; Jiang Shilong (male, from Haikou, Hainan Province,) was sentenced to prison for 3 years; Liang Yulin (female, from Haikou, Hainan Province,) was sentenced to prison for 2 years; Chen Yuan (male, from Haikou, Hainan Province,) was sentenced to prison for 7 years. According to the leading People's Daily newspaper. They were arrested because they traveled around China and "exchanged experiences" with other Falun Gong practitioners, They were sentenced under the accusation of "using a cult to violate the laws" Song Yuesheng and Liang Yulin on trial Chen Yang (from Changsha, Hunan Province) and Cao Zhiming (from Changsha, Hunan Province) were given a sentence of 2 years in jail. Xiang Donghui (male, from Shanghai) was sentenced to jail for 6 years