(Minghui.org) A 25-year-old man in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province was recently sentenced to 5.5 years for practicing Falun Gong, which he credits for curing his depression.

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. Song Yucen’s father had a stroke in 2006 when he was 11. In the same year, his mother lost her job. He felt inferior to others and grew depressed.

After graduating from college, he was swindled out of 40,000 yuan looking for a job, worsening his depression. He was fired from his job in January 2019 due to incompetence. He tried many things to cure his depression but to no avail. He attempted suicide and ran away from home many times. The whole family suffered with him.

In despair, he remembered Falun Gong, which his grandfather had told him about when he was little. Two months after taking up the practice, he began to think sensibly and speak normally. He got over his depression.

Happy and excited, he went to the hospital to tell other patients about his experience, only to be reported by a nurse and arrested on March 29, 2019. The police held him in the Heping District Detention Center on the next day.

The Heping District Procuratorate approved Mr. Song’s arrest on April 30, 2019. The prosecutor returned his case twice to the police in late July and on October 17 for insufficient evidence. After the police submitted his case for the third time on November 17, the prosecutor indicted him and moved his case to the Heping District Court.

Mr. Song was tried by the Heping District Court on June 16, 2020, and sentenced to 5.5 years on December 29, 2020.