Husband and Wife in Chongqing Given Long Prison Sentences for Their Faith in Falun Gong

(Minghui.org) A couple in Rongchang District, Chongqing, were both given heavy prison terms for refusing to give up their faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.

Mr. He Zubin, 47, and his wife Ms. Lyu Caili, 43, were arrested at home on the night of June 18, 2021. It was learned recently that the Jiulongpo District Court had sentenced Mr. He to eight years in prison and his wife to five years. The details of their trial are not known.

Prior to their latest sentencing, Mr. He was twice jailed for a total of seven and a half years, and his wife was also targeted for practicing Falun Gong.

Past Persecution

Mr. He started to practice Falun Gong before 1999. While Ms. Lyu didn’t right away, she always supported him in his practice. She eventually became a practitioner herself in 2007. Both of them have been repeatedly targeted for their faith.

Mr. He was first arrested in December 2000 for distributing information exposing the persecution of Falun Gong. He was detained for a month.

Agents from the Rongchang District 610 Office arrested Mr. He on November 21, 2002, while he was working on a vegetable farm. They held him at the Shihe Brainwashing Center for about three weeks.

The police spotted Mr. He and a few other practitioners hanging up banners with messages about Falun Gong on the night of January 8, 2003. He and another practitioner managed to escape, but the others were arrested. Rongchang District Police Department officers raided Mr. He’s home the next day and he was forced to go into hiding. The practitioner who escaped with him the night before was captured and given a forced labor camp term.

Mr. He was arrested in the Yongchuan District, Chongqing six months later in July 2003. The police beat him and burned his face with a lit cigarette. He managed to escape again with his handcuffs still on.

The police launched a manhunt, but he avoided being recaptured by hiding in a ditch on a hog farm for three days. The ditch was filled with hog waste and dirty water, leaving him soaking wet and filthy. He didn’t dare to go home. A kindhearted acquaintance sheltered him for a few days. The handcuffs had cut into his flesh and it took him a long time to get them off.

Mr. He left the acquaintance’s home and went to Suining City, Sichuan Province, where he was arrested on November 29, 2004. The police beat him for an entire week in the 610 Office before taking him to a detention center. A 610 Office agent said, “We must make him answer our questions, so keep torturing him, but don’t beat him to death yet.”

The Suining City Court sentenced Mr. He to two and a half years on February 22, 2006. He was brutally tortured in Wumaping Prison in Sichuan Province.

Mr. He and his wife were arrested at home on April 19, 2015. More than ten agents raided their home and confiscated their valuables. An officer covered Ms. Lyu’s mouth and slapped her in the face. Their daughter, then a seventh-grader, and their son, still in elementary school, were left to fend for themselves. The police also went to the siblings’ schools to threaten them to give up practicing Falun Gong.

Ms. Lyu was deprived of sleep for one night and interrogated with torture in custody. She was released 37 days later and struggled to support the family by operating a restaurant by herself. Then in her 30s, her hair turned gray.

Mr. He remained in custody and was sentenced to five years with a 5,000-yuan fine by the Rongchang District Court on October 20, 2016. In Yongchuan Prison in Chongqing, he was subjected to various forms of torture. For a period of time, he was not allowed to sleep at night and was forced to sit on a small stool motionless for more than ten hours during the day every day, all the while being forced to listen to propaganda slandering Falun Gong. When he held firm to his faith, he was threatened with being force-fed toxic drugs. The guards warned him that some of those given such drugs were still hospitalized.

Perpetrators’ contact information:

Jiulongpo District CourtAddress: No. 15 Huoju Avenue, Jiulongpo District, ChongqingPostcode: 400039Tel: [phone]