Guangdong Man Sentenced to 5.5 Years for His Faith

Mr. Zhuang Xiachang, 64, was reported on February 5, 2020, for distributing informational materials about Falun Gong. The police created a “high priority” case against him and sentenced the resident of Shanwei City, Guangdong Province to 5.5 years for practicing Falun Gong on November 19, 2021.

Zhuang appealed the sentence but it was turned down on February 21, 2022.

Group Arrests and Sentencings

On April 9, at around 10 p.m., the police broke into Zhang’s home while he was studying Falun Gong’s teaching with four other Falun Gong practitioners – Mr. Huang Shengwei, Mr. Chen Xianzhen, Mr. Wu Yiguo, and his wife Ms. Zeng Shaolan.

Another married couple, Mr. Liang Shengqiang and Ms. Yu Shaoliang were arrested around the same time. An eighth practitioner, Ms. Ye Xiaojie, was arrested on June 9, 2020.

The Cheng District Procuratorate approved the eight practitioners’ arrests on May 31, 2020. Zhuang, Huang, Chen, and Ye were later indicted.

Judge Huang Weiqun of the Cheng District Court sentenced Zhuang to 5.5 years with a 20,000-yuan fine on November 19, 2021. He appealed to the Shanwei City Intermediate Court, which ruled to uphold his original verdict on February 21, 2022.

Huang was also sentenced to 5.5 years and fined 20,000 yuan by the same judge. Chen and Ye have also been convicted, but details about their verdicts are not clear.

Prior to his latest sentence, Zhuang was sentenced to 3.5 years in Sihui Prison by the Cheng District Court on May 12, 2003.