(Minghui.org) A resident of Zibo City, Shandong Province has filed an appeal after he was sentenced to three years with a 15,000-yuan fine for practicing Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.

Mr. Yang Changkuan and his wife, Ms. Wang Cuihua (also a Falun Gong practitioner), were arrested at home on the morning of March 23, 2023. The arresting officers were from the Boshan District Police Department and the Kunlun Town Police Station. The police also raided the couple’s home. It is unclear what items were confiscated.

Ms. Wang was released after a brief detention, but Mr. Yang were kept in custody at the Boshan District Detention Center. The Boshan District Court later sentenced him, but the details of his trial (if any) remain unknown.

Mr. Yang’s latest sentencing was preceded by another three-year term following his arrest on March 22, 2016. Zibo City 610 Office agents, along with the local police, broke into his home and confiscated his computer, printer, and other valuables. His mother, then in her 80s and living with him, was so traumatized that she passed out. After she came to, she told her loved ones that the police raid triggered memories of her son and his wife being sent to forced labor and taken to a psychiatric hospital for persecution back in 1999. 

Mr. Yang made two court appearances, on September 13 and October 14, 2016, before being sentenced to three years in prison.

Perpetrators’ contact information:

Luo Xiaoqing (罗晓庆), judge, Boshan District Court: +86-533-4102178Yin Dacheng (殷大成), officer, Boshan District Domestic Security Office: +86-17805333575