A District Court in Shandong Province Sentences A Husband and Wife to 8 Years Imprisonment For Practicing Falun Gong

5/1/2003

At 9am on April 17^th, 2003, the Tianqiao District Court in Jinan City, Shandong Province unlawfully sentenced Dafa practitioners Chu Zhaoding and You Yufang to 8 years imprisonment. Chu Zhaoding is a researcher at the Shangdong Province Academy of Science and his wife You Yufang is an Engineer at the Jinan Chongqi Corporation. The couple was sentenced to imprisonment because they refused to give up practicing Falun Gong and persistently tried to expose the facts of the persecution by Jiang's regime.

Since Jiang's regime began persecuting Falun Gong in July, 1999, Zhaoding and Yufang have had their home searched and valuables confiscated by police many times. They were detained and sent to brainwashing classes several times, and their home was robbed by police in the process. During the past several years, their retirement benefits have also been terminated. The total losses they have suffered are estimated to be about 80,000 Yuan (Yuan is the Chinese currency; urban workers earn an average of 500 Yuan monthly). The couple had already been living under strict economic restraint before these losses. Afterwards, they became virtually penniless and were forced into a homeless state. Despite the pressure however, the couple still managed to use what little money they had to clarify the truth and save sentient beings.

Chu Zhaoding and You Yufang were arrested on November 9^th, 2002 by police in Jinan working for the "610 Office" (an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems). They were secretly detained for over 5 months until they were sentenced to prison. During the detention period, the "610" officials locked the couple up with criminals and fed them only half a stale bun, some rotten pickled radish, and dirty water every day. The officials tortured them frequently, and they were not allowed to see their families at all. They suffered tremendous mental and physical abuse and they looked extremely tired and weak by the time their "court hearing" had arrived. Despite this, they were still able to stand up for justice during the hearing, and expose the evil deeds of the police in a bold and righteous manner. While the judge was trying to stop Yufang's appeal statement and was about to announce so-called "evidence" to justify their illegal sentence, the bright daytime sky over Jinan area was suddenly covered with dark clouds followed by loud thunder and a rainstorm. Shortly afterwards, the microphone system in the court malfunctioned, and the people in the court were all in a panic.

The court ended up overruling practitioners' appeals. Such actions are not only in breach of China's own constitutions on freedom of belief, but also a breach of International Human Rights conventions that China has signed.

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