(Minghui.org) A 40-year-old man’s appeal against a guilty verdict resulted in a heavier sentence.
Mr. Hu Jiancai was initially sentenced to six years in prison for refusing to renounce Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline being persecuted by the Chinese communist regime. This is not the first time he has been targeted for his faith. More than a decade ago, Mr. Hu was once given two years of forced labor and sentenced to four-and-a-half-years in prison.
He requested that his latest conviction be overturned, as no law in China criminalizes Falun Gong and he should never have been prosecuted for exercising his constitutional right to freedom of belief. The local appeals court, however, increased his sentence to seven years.
Put on Wanted List after Sister’s Arrest
Mr. Hu, a native of Shizuishan City, Ningxia Autonomous Region, is not the only one in his family who practices Falun Gong. His two sisters also benefited tremendously from this traditional spiritual practice based on the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.
One of the sisters, Ms. Hu Hong, moved to Delingha City, Qinghai Province for a new job years ago. She was arrested on June 24, 2014 in her adoptive province for distributing materials exposing the persecution of Falun Gong.
Mr. Hu wrote a letter to the Qinghai Police Department requesting his sister’s release and was soon put on the Wanted List. He was arrested on May 20, 2015, one month after his sister was sentenced to 4 years in prison. Joint police forces from Ningxia and Qinghai raided his rental place in Yinchuan City, Ningxia Province and took him to Qinghai to face trial.
It is unknown when the Delingha City Court sentenced Mr. Hu to prison, but it is recently learned that Mr. Hu’s appeal has been rejected and his prison sentence was increased by one year.
Mr. Hu’s other sister, Ms. Hu Julian, has not been spared from persecution either. She and her husband, Mr. Wang Fugui, were arrested on January 3, 2015 while visiting their son in Xinjiang Autonomous Region. They were each sentenced to 4 years in prison about nine months later.
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