(Minghui.org) A 43-year-old man in Daqing City, Heilongjiang Province was sentenced to a one-year and five-month prison term in November 2023 for his faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999. Mr. Meng Fanzeng’s appeal was soon rejected without an open hearing.
Mr. Meng, who has a bachelor’s degree in physics from Nankai University in Tianjin, works for Daqing Oil Field’s water company. His sentencing stemmed from his arrest on April 28, 2022. He was seized at 8 p.m. that day while going through a security check before boarding a train at the Daqing Railway Station.
The Railroad Police Station targeted Mr. Meng because they found an e-reader containing Falun Gong books in his luggage. They handed him over to the Dong’an Police Department, which dispatched four officers to raid his home the next day. The police confiscated his desktop computer, laptop computer, printer, and other electronic devices, as well as Falun Gong informational materials.
While Mr. Meng was released on bail on the night of April 29, 2022, he was taken to a brainwashing center on August 11, 2022 and held there for an unknown amount of time. According to insiders, the brainwashing center was set up under orders from the Heilongjiang Province Political and Legal Affairs Committee, an extra-judicial agency tasked with overseeing the persecution of Falun Gong. Despite efforts from “brainwashing experts” from Shandong Province and Beijing, attempting to make Mr. Meng renounce Falun Gong, he remained firm in his faith and refused to write or sign any statements.
The brainwashing center then released Mr. Meng and ordered the Dong’an Police Department to speed up his prosecution, and his employer to discipline him.
The police submitted Mr. Meng’s case to the Daqing High-Tech Industry Development Zone Procuratorate on March 30, 2023. The procuratorate indicted him on an unknown date and forwarded his case to the Daqing High-Tech Industry Development Zone Court on October 8, 2023.
Mr. Meng stood trial on November 13, 2023 and his lawyer entered a not-guilty plea on his behalf. He was released home after the hearing but taken back into custody on November 20. He was then notified of his conviction (exact date of sentencing is unclear).
Judge Jiang Yunfeng of the Daqing City Intermediate Court did not hold a hearing for Mr. Meng’s appeals case as he requested and ruled to uphold his original verdict on an unknown date.
It is unclear where Mr. Meng is currently being held.
Related reports:
Recent Persecution Cases of Falun Dafa Practitioners in Daqing City, Heilongjiang Province
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