(Minghui.org) A couple in Hunan Province received heavy prison sentences in a secret trial. The husband was sentenced to eight years and wife to seven years, leaving their four-year-old son in the care of relatives.

The couple's “crime” was practicing Falun Gong, which the Chinese Communist regime has brutally persecuted for the past fifteen years. In China, practitioners face arbitrary arrest, detention, and often torture for their beliefs. In numerous cases like this one, families with young children are ripped apart when both parents are imprisoned.

The couple was arrested on January 16, 2014 and have been held at the the Xiangtan Detention Center for more than eight months. The detention center forcibly drew their blood twice. Their relatives received a notification for visiting day on September 15 but were denied entrance.

Mr. Deng Ye (邓烨), in his early forties, worked at Hunan Valin Xiangtan Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. His wife, Ms. Fu Xianhua (扶先华), 36, was a doctor at the Xiangtan No. 6 Hospital.

On the day of the arrest, police officers broke into the couple's home and seized all Falun Gong books and materials, computers, and other possessions. The husband and wife were taken to the Xiangtan County Detention Center and the Xiangtan City Detention Center, respectively. Mr. Deng was transferred to the Xiangtan City Detention Center a month later.

Mr. Deng Ye's ID photo

Ms. Fu Xianhua's ID photo

Mr. Deng and Ms. Fu's families questioned why the detention center twice drew their blood. However, guards did not provide an explanation. Mr. Deng's father expressed concern that the blood tests were related to the harvesting and selling of organs from live Falun Gong practitioners, the subject of an international investigation from 2006.

Xiangtan County Detention Center, where Mr. Deng's first blood test took place

Parties responsible for this case of persecution:

610 Office of Xiangtan City, Hunan Province: +86-731-58583197 (Office)

Xie Xiongzi (谢雄姿) and Liu Jie (刘杰), “Stability Maintenance” Office of Hunan Valin Xiangtan Iron and Steel Co., Ltd.: +86-731-58652016 (Office)

Xiangtan Police Department:168 Ji'an Road, Xiangtan City, Hunan Province 411100+86-731-55297051 (Office)

Related articles in Chinese language:

http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2014/9/19/邓烨夫妇被湘潭市看守所劫持愈八月-297917.html