(Minghui.org) A Suining City, Sichuan Province, man in his 70s was sentenced on June 18, 2020, to a three-year and ten-day prison term, for practicing Falun Gong.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is an ancient spiritual and meditation discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Mr. Liao Banggui, 72, was arrested on March 23, 2019, after being reported for talking to people about Falun Gong on a bus. The police body-searched him and took photos of him at the police station, before letting him go home hours later.
One week before his arrest, the police and the community staffers harassed him at home and threatened him, warning him not to go out and talk to people about Falun Gong.
The police later submitted Mr. Liao’s case to the Procuratorate. Two officers took him to the Chuanshan District Court on June 18, 2020. His family followed and arrived at the court moments later, but judge Qin Jianhua had already announced the verdict against Mr. Liao.
He is currently detained at Pengxi County Detention Center.
Mr. Liao used to work at the China National Petroleum Corporation. He has been repeatedly arrested and detained over the past 21 years for practicing Falun Gong.
While he was serving a three-year term between 2011 and 2014 at Wumaping Prison and Jiazhou Prison, the guards shocked his feet with electric batons, sprayed tear gas towards his eyes and nose, tied him up, and exposed him to freezing conditions. He was also forced to do long hours of unpaid labor, and was beaten and verbally abused by the inmates at will. He lost his memory at one point and sustained many physical injuries.
When Mr. Liao went to the police station on October 17, 2016, to demand the return of his confiscated Falun Gong books, the police sprayed a chemical onto his right ear, causing it to bleed immediately.
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