Reported in 2021: 1,187 Falun Gong Practitioners Sentenced for Their Faith

(Minghui.org) The year 2021 recorded a total of 1,187 Falun Gong practitioners sentenced to prison for their faith, a mind-body practice also known as Falun Dafa that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

The 1,187 cases included 7 that took place in 2019, 288 in 2020, and 892 in 2021. With the new information, the total confirmed sentencing cases in 2020 has now been updated to 910. Due to strict information censorship in China, the sentencing cases can’t always be reported in a timely manner, nor is all the information readily available.

Among the 892 cases that took place in 2021, March saw the most cases (107), followed by April (98), and December (86). Other months recorded cases ranged from 41 to 84.

The sentenced practitioners hailed from 27 provinces and municipalities. Liaoning (142), Heilongjiang (125), Jilin (109), Shandong (102), and Henan (90) were the top five provinces with the most sentencing cases. Twenty other regions had cases between 10 and 78. Fujian and Guangxi each had one case.

In particular, the courts in Nanyang City, Henan Province, sentenced 41 practitioners to prison. All were targeted in a mass arrest of over 100 practitioners on August 30, 2019. Their prison terms ranged from 7 months to 13 years.

The sentenced practitioners came from all walks of life, including a former music teacher, a hotel owner, a retired doctor, a salon owner, and a boat engineer.

Upon hearing about the arrest of restaurant owner Mr. Yang Jianlu in Hebei Province, 415 of Mr. Yang’s fellow villagers signed an affidavit in support of him. The villagers’ statement said, “We are from Banpo Street. We are all shocked to hear about Yang Jianlu’s arrest. People in nearby villages all know that he practices Falun Gong and is a good person. Whoever needs help, he is always willing to lend a hand. We don’t know much about the sophisticated principles of Falun Gong, but we know that he didn’t do anything wrong by being a good person. He has been detained for nearly eight months. Please release him. Let his family reunite.” Despite their plea, Mr. Yang was sentenced to eight years and his appeal was rejected by the higher court.

After Mr. Ding Guochen, a math tutor in Liaoning Province, was arrested in 2019, his wife called his students and their parents, telling them that he could not tutor any longer. Some students were so upset that they started to cry. A student’s father said to Mr. Ding’s wife, “My son is in tears. When his mother told him to sign up for a different class, he said, ‘I could never find another teacher as nice as Teacher Ding! I don’t want to change! I only want Teacher Ding to tutor me!’” Mr. Ding was later sentenced to a two-year prison term, while he remained in a coma after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage.

Except for 61 practitioners who were given probation, 34 whose terms were unknown, and another 2 who were given court fines without prison terms, the rest were given terms ranging from 3 months to 14 years, with an average of 3.5 years.

A total of 448 practitioners were subjected to court fines or police extortion totaling over 6 million yuan, averaging 14,860 yuan for each person. Among them, 204 practitioners were fined 5,000 yuan or less, 106 were fined between 5,000 and 10,000 yuan, 120 were fined between 10,000 to 50,000 yuan and 18 were fined over 50,000 yuan.

Among the 430 practitioners whose ages were known at the time of their sentencing, 32 were in their 80s, 122 in their 70s, 122 in their 60s, 102 in their 50s, 41 in their 40s, 9 in their 30s, 1 in his 20s, and the youngest at age 19.

The youngest practitioner was Ms. Li Hui, a freshman at Weifang Nursing School in Shandong Province. She was retaliated against by her school when she declined to get the coronavirus vaccine. Knowing that she practiced Falun Gong, her school reported her to the police and got her arrested. She was sentenced to seven months with a 5,000-yuan fine, as the police found Falun Gong materials in her dormitory room.

The oldest practitioners sentenced were 88, including Mr. Xin Yuliang who was given one year, and Mr. Xu Shujun who received three years. Mr. Xu’s wife, Ms. Wang Chuanyun, 82, was also sentenced to three years. A 90-year-old woman is facing a prison sentence following a hearing on October 28, 2021.

An 80-year-old man was never released after serving a three-year term for practicing Falun Gong. Instead, the authorities kept Mr. Liu Xiyong in custody and handed him another four-year term months later. He was denied medical parole despite his critical condition and he passed away on December 29.

Three other practitioners also died as a result of the sentencing in 2021, including a 53-year-old wife, a 55-year-old mother and a 65-year-old father.

Many of the practitioners face inhuman abuses in prison, both physical and mental, as the guards try to force them to renounce their faith. Some practitioners were forced to study Buddhism as part of the brainwashing, some were forced to do intensive unpaid labor while being starved, and many others were subjected to constant beatings, sleep deprivation, and electric shocks.

In order to shake their willpower and prevent their families from seeing their injuries, the authorities often deny the practitioners’ family visits. Some reported cases include a 68-year-old man with a disability in one leg, a 49-year-old man who suffered kidney and heart failure, and an 84-year-old woman with leg problems and impaired hearing.

Even after a Fuxin City, Liaoning Province resident in her 50s suffered a stroke at the prison, the authorities refused to release her on medical parole, but demanded 200,000 yuan from her family in exchange for her release. As her family was unable to afford the extortion, she remains detained.

In addition to denied family visits, most of the practitioners were also blocked from correspondence with their families. Although the family of a Shandong woman mailed several registered letters to her and the mail tracking system also indicated that the letters were received and signed, Ms. Wang Cuiying later told her family that she only got one letter. Around the same time, the family also received a letter, with poor handwriting imitating Ms. Wang’s that praised the prison and the guards. Her family is very worried about her and they are concerned as to why the prison withheld their correspondence and fabricated a letter to appear to be from her.

For some practitioners, the persecution continues even after their prison terms expired. The above-mentioned 80-year-old man was sentenced to another four years after serving three years, and a 76-year-old man was held in a brainwashing center for 36 days before finally being allowed to go home, after serving 4.5 years.

While making the closing statement during a court hearing for Ms. Ye Xiaobing on October 12, 2021, her lawyers said, “The political struggle against Falun Gong, ordered by the Chinese Communist Party and coordinated by the public security and the judiciary branch, is far beyond the scope of the law. The prosecutors and judges, who are supported by taxpayers, were turned into political weapons to persecute good people, and have alienated their identities of representatives for justice. Despite the national apparatus mobilized to persecute Falun Gong, its practitioners have only become more resilient after enduring twenty-two years of suppression. Countless newcomers also joined the practice around the world.

“Goodness will surely triumph over evil and each of us is faced with a choice that will determine our own future.” said the lawyers.

Please read the full Minghui report to see more details of the sentencing cases in 2021:

Reported in 2021: 1,187 Falun Gong Practitioners Sentenced for Their Faith