(Minghui.org) Mr. Sun Zhaohai is scheduled to be released on July 1, 2021, after serving 19 years in prison for his faith in Falun Gong, a meditation practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime for the past 22 years.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has defamed Falun Gong with massive propaganda campaigns since the beginning of its persecution of the mind-body practice in July 1999. Thousands of state-owned television and radio stations and newspapers were mobilized to slander Falun Gong, while practitioners had no place to voice their first-hand experiences with the practice and the horrors of the persecution.
With no official channels to appeal for their right to practice Falun Gong, practitioners in Lanzhou City, Gansu Province successfully intercepted television signals on August 17, 2002. They broadcast videos explaining Falun Gong's principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and its benefits, as well as videos that debunked the CCP's hate propaganda.
The incident led to province-wide arrests in multiple cities and areas such as Wuqi City, Jiuxuan City, Tianshui City, Baiyin City, Qingyang City, and other mining areas.
Seven practitioners involved in the case were sentenced to heavy prison terms by the Chengguan District Court on October 27, 2002: Li Wenming, Wang Peng, and Wei Junren were sentenced to 20 years each; Sun Zhaohai, Qiang Xiaoyi, Liu Zhirong (who was tortured to death in 2007 in Tianshui Prison), and Su Anzhou to between 10 and 19 years.
Another 17 practitioners were also sentenced, though the lengths of their terms aren’t clear. They are Tang Qiong, Yin Xiaolan, Wang Yongmin, Zhang Jinmei, Wang Weiping, Yang Jingchun, Zhao Houyu, Shang Junbin of Tianshui City, Chang Jubin and Zhang Guangli of Baiyin City. Li Yuhai, Tang Pinghu, Huang Ruzhong, Huang Rufu, Zhao Wencheng, Zhou Xiuying of Jiayuguan City, and Shi Jinxiang of Guazhou County.
Mr. Sun is incarcerated in Lanzou City Prison. Since August 2010, he has been repeatedly held in solitary confinement. The guards kept the light on at night in order to disrupt his sleep.
In order to force Mr. Sun to give up his faith, the guards further tortured him around 2018. Mr. Sun went on a hunger strike for eleven days in protest before the guards stopped the torture. No further information about Mr. Sun is available to the outside world.
In recent years, Lanzhou City Prison has isolated imprisoned practitioners from each other. Currently Mr. Sun is held in Division 1, which is designated for “elderly, sick, and disabled” detainees.
The Persecution Mr. Sun Suffered
Mr. Sun was born in April 1968 in Jiamusi City, Heilongjiang Province. He started to practice Falun Gong in 1997.
In October 2000, Mr. Sun was arrested for going to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. He was given a two-year labor camp term two months later. His workplace also fired him.
While he was detained at Division 2 of Jiamusi City Forced Camp Center, Mr. Sun's body was covered with scabies, which was painful and itchy. He couldn't sleep well, and on some days he couldn't get out of bed or take care of himself. The guards still forced him to work without pay.
On November 3, 2000, after eleven practitioners escaped from the forced labor camp, the camp intensified the torture of practitioners who remained steadfast to their faith and isolated them from each other. Mr. Sun was held in the coldest room in the far west wing of the building for about two months.
In 2001, Mr. Sun was released from the labor camp. He continued to expose the persecution of Falun Gong and the CCP’s propaganda attacking the practice.
He moved to Lanzhou City and participated in the TV interception in August 2002. In order to arrest him, the police put him on a wanted list and held his wife, who still lived in Jiamusi, hostage in the detention center. Although his wife was released 40 days later, she was forced to divorce him.
While Mr. Sun was on the run, he called his elderly and ailing mother from Lanzhou, without knowing that the police were monitoring his mother's home phone. The Jiamusi Police soon located Mr. Sun and worked with Lanzhou police to arrest him.
Mr. Sun's mother missed her son every day. Her health quickly deteriorated, and she passed away in deep agony without seeing her son for the last time.
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