(Minghui.org) Ma Li, wife of a Falun Gong practitioner facing an illegal trial on October 31, protested in front of the Chinese consulate in San Francisco on Wednesday October 29, 2014.

“The persecution of Falun Gong in China, including the arrest and torture of my husband, is illegal.” She demanded his immediate and unconditional release.

Ms. Ma Li called for her husband's release in front of the Chinese consulate in San Francisco

Mr. Yu Ming (于溟), 43, a resident in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, is a successful entrepreneur. He owns a mid-size clothing business with over 100 employees. His latest arrest on August 29 was his fourth since the persecution of Falun Gong began in 1999.

Mr. Yu has been detained at the Shenyang No. 1 Detention Center for over a year. According to Ms. Ma, the police first tried to charge him with “using cult organizations to sabotage law enforcement,” a common tactic the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) uses to persecute Falun Gong practitioners for their belief.

After the case was rejected due to insufficient evidence, the police tried again with “subversion of state power,” but the case was again declined due to insufficient evidence.

Ms. Ma said that the CCP is now going back to the charge of “using cult organizations to sabotage law enforcement.”

Minghui reported that Mr. Yu had been subjected to various forms of torture, including high voltage electric shocks, death bed, small cell, long-term exposure to the scorching sun, and force-feeding.

Following Mr. Yu's arrest last year, his wife Ms. Ma and daughter Zizhen, who were vacationing in the United States, made a difficult decision to stay there to avoid getting implicated. Their son is being looked after by relatives.

According to Ms. Ma, the two-year-old boy witnessed the arrest on the night of August 29, and was terrified. He is three years old now, but still has trouble speaking after going through that ordeal.

Ms. Yu Zizhen, Yu Ming's daughter, spoke at a rally in San Francisco on July 19, 2014.

Mr. Yu Ming

Mr. Yu's 15-year-old daughter Zizhen spoke at a San Francisco rally in July and said that her family was one of the many torn apart by the persecution. She was born in 1999, and her parents were arrested in 2000 for distributing materials informing the public about the persecution.

Mr. Yu was incarcerated three times in the next 10 years, and detained for eight of them. Zizhen hardly knew her father when he was released from Masanjia Labor Camp in September 2009. He was arrested again in 2013.

Mr. Yu was beaten severely, shocked with electric batons and hung up with handcuffs for several days when he was held in Masanjia in 2008.

The labor camp guards took turns shocking his genital area. They also kept him in a metal cage for three months. He couldn't stand up or lie down. They poured cold water on him and fixed him in one position. The labor camp also falsified a suicide statement during the several days he lost consciousness.