Liaoning Man Sentenced for His Faith Again After 9 Year Incarceration

Mr. Miao Jianguo, a 51-year-old Liaoning Province resident, was recently sentenced to a year and a half for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Three officers of the Zijing Police Station knocked on Mr. Miao’s door early in the afternoon on February 21, 2022. His wife opened the door and told the police that Mr. Miao was not home. After lingering for a while, the officers left before returning at around 4 p.m., shortly after Mr. Miao had come home.

Expecting his friends, Mr. Miao opened the door, only to have the officers barge in. They ransacked his home and confiscated his Falun Gong related materials and cell phone.

Although the officers told Mr. Miao’s wife that they were just taking him to their police station to ask him some questions, they arrested and took him to the Jinzhou City Detention Center. Once there, police instigated inmates to beat him. The police promised they would release Mr. Miao in seven days. But when his brother went to the detention center to pick him up on February 27, the authorities refused to release him. 

Mr. Miao was later indicted by the Linghai City Procuratorate and sentenced to 1.5 years.

Mr. Miao’s latest arrest was ordered by Yan Shengbin, the chief of the Zijing Police Station. Yan used to be the deputy director of Linghe District Domestic Security Office and has been actively participating in the persecution. Just on September 21, 2022, he ordered the arrests of Ms. Xie Chengyu, Ms. Li Yanling, Ms. Song Wenli and Ms. Jiang Yongjin. All of these practitioners had their homes ransacked and are now detained at the Yi County Detention Center.

Previous Persecution

Mr. Miao was first arrested for upholding his faith in Falun Gong in October 2001. His wife, who was then eight months pregnant, was terrified and suffered placental abruption, resulting in the unborn child’s death. She was never able to carry a baby again.

Mr. Miao was given three years of forced labor following his second arrest on July 23, 2002. While he was briefly released on bail, he was later taken back into custody and had his term extended. He was not released until February 15, 2007.

He was arrested a third time on February 25, 2008 and later sentenced to four years in prison. While he was serving his term, his mother passed away and his father died in a car accident. He was unable to see either of them before their passings.

Based on an original report by Minghui.org