Dafa Practitioner Mr. Ma Guifeng from Jingxian County, Hebei Province Illegally Sentenced to Ten Years in Prison

(Clearwisdom.net) Ma Guifeng was born in 1961 and lives in Jingxian County, Hebei Province. He was once responsible for Jingxian County Assistance Center, helping people to learn Falun Gong. Because Ma Guifeng kept on explaining the truth to the people after the persecution began, Jingxian County Police Department officials offered a reward of 200,000 Yuan* for his capture. In July 2002, they illegally sentenced him to 20 years of imprisonment for persistently appealing for Falun Dafa. His sentence was later reduced to ten years. We have learned recently that Ma Guifeng is imprisoned in Jingxian County Detention Center, and he is appealing for his freedom and innocence.

Since Jiang's regime started to persecute Falun Dafa in July 1999, Ma Guifeng has frequently exercised his rights granted by the Chinese Constitution and went to Beijing many times to appeal for Dafa. He was for that reason considered an "important person" involved with Falun Gong by the Jingxian County Police Department. They tried in vain several times to abduct him.

In October 1999, Ma Guifeng decided that he wanted to meet the police face to face and to explain the truth to them. He wanted to let the police learn the truth and stop any further persecution against Dafa practitioners. Disregarding the personal danger he might meet, he went to the police to tell them the facts. They first unlawfully detained him there, and then locked him up in a detention center. Later he was illegally arrested. In court, Ma Guifeng said solemnly that Falun Dafa is good and he did not do anything illegal. The judges were speechless. They sentenced Ma Guifeng to three years of imprisonment with two years of reprieve.

In the beginning of 2000 he went home but was still under strict surveillance of the local street police station. In June 2000, the police said they wanted to send Ma Guifeng to a forced labor camp. In July 2000, Ma Guifeng had to leave home and go from place to place in order to avoid further persecution. No matter where he went, he kept in mind that he is a Dafa practitioner and he kept on telling people the facts wherever he went. During this period, the County Police Department issued a warrant in China, offering 200,000 Yuan reward to capture him. They also frequently threatened Ma Guifeng's wife, also a Dafa practitioner, and kept her under long-term police surveillance.

In July 2002, while Ma Guifeng was doing a small trading business in a city in southern China, the local police detained him without reason. Later, when the police found out where he came from, they escorted him back and detained him in Jingxian Detention Center. He was then illegally sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment in a court session. Later his sentence was reduced to ten years.

* "Yuan" is the Chinese currency. The average monthly salary of an urban worker in China is 500 Yuan.

November 19, 2003

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/11/20/60921.html

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