July 3, 2002
(Clearwisdom.net) Between November 5 and 7, 2001, Xihu District Court authorities handed down heavy sentences to twenty-three Dafa practitioners and three other honest persons from Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province.
These Dafa practitioners, who had suffered brutal torture, entered the court with great dignity.
The court opened proceedings to the public on the third day. Quite a few reporters from radio and TV stations came; cameras were everywhere and officials from the provincial and municipal governments were also present. Practitioners' friends and families attended too. Fearing that the Dafa practitioners' might extend their right hands upward and send forth righteous thoughts, the police handcuffed practitioners behind their backs. The practitioners also tried to deter the TV crews from shooting their footage because they knew that the TV programs would distort the information to mislead the audience. Some practitioners protested verbally, others turned their heads. Although the policemen were very callous and some even threatened Dafa practitioners, the practitioners were fearless. They were firmly eliminating the evil with righteous thoughts, and there was nothing that the evil could do to break their spirits. The court came to a hasty adjournment.
Dafa practitioner Chen Baozhi was sentenced to 11 years; Huang Baohua, 11 years; Huang Zhaoping, 11 years; Sun Wenzhang, 8 years; Li Xiaoqing, 9 years; Hu Qingying, 8 years; Luo Wenbin, 7 years; Lai Hui, 7 years; Huang Dong'an, 5 years; Zhang Dianzhen, 4 years; Zheng Min, 3 years; Zhang Shujun, 3 years; Zhang Li, 3 years; Wang Yuanhe, 3 years; Zhu Shilan, 3 years; He Chunfeng, 3 years; Liu Liming, 3 years; Zeng Weichun, 3 years. The rest received one year.
These Dafa practitioners said firmly, "No matter how heavily they sentence us, we will never succumb to the evil. We will forever follow our Teacher and firmly practice Dafa. The evil and their followers are nothing and their words count for nothing. We promise our Teacher: "We will be sure-footed on our path!"