(Minghui.org) Mr. Xia Hongmin’s family was shocked to find out in May 2023 that he had been taken to the Jidong Branch of the Hebei Province Prison Administration Bureau on April 18 to serve a 1.5-year term for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999. They also had no knowledge about his trial or sentencing.
It has been more than eight months since Mr. Xia, a 67-year-old resident of Laishui County, Hebei Province, was admitted to prison, yet his loved ones still do not know where he is being held. There are eight prisons within the Jidong Branch and they are all located in Tangshan City, Hebei Province. The authorities have not given Mr. Xia’s family a formal prison admission notice, nor have they called them to inform the family of his whereabouts.
His loved ones called the Jidong Branch numerous times but were always given the runaround and told such things as, “There is no such a person named Xia Hongmin on our roster,” “This is an internal secret and we cannot disclose to you where Xia Hongmin is jailed,” and, “If you want to find out where he is, I dare you to bring your ID and come here.”
Mr. Xia’s family then turned to the Hujiazhuang Township Police Station, which was in charge of his case, but the police referred them to a Domestic Security office, which in turn directed them to the procuratorate that indicted him. After being given this runaround, Mr. Xia’s loved ones still have not been able to pinpoint his whereabouts.
Hebei Province was recently hit by a severe snowstorm. Mr. Xia’s wife is worried about whether he had enough clothes to stay warm. She said, “We don’t know where he is being held. We cannot deliver clothes to him, much less see him in person.” She is also extremely concerned about his safety, given that at least 36 Falun Gong practitioners in Hebei have been tortured to death at various prisons within the Jidong Branch.
Arrest and Secret Sentencing
Mr. Xia was arrested on July 8, 2022, while talking to people at a community fair about Falun Gong. The arresting officers from the Yongyang Police Station confiscated his electric bike and released him on bail hours later. He went to work as usual the next day, only to be arrested at work by four officers from the Yongyang Police Station. They took him to the Laishui County Lockup to serve a 15-day administrative detention, without notifying his family. On July 13, his family was ordered to come to the police station to pick up his electric bike.
When Mr. Xia’s administrative detention expired on July 23, 2022, the lockup refused to release him and said that the Hujiazhuang Township Police Station had ordered them to keep him detained.
Mr. Xia’s family was baffled as to why a different police station (Hujiazhuang Township instead of the Yongyang Police Station) suddenly got involved in his case. They went to the Hujiazhuang Township Police Station to inquire about what was going on. An officer there said that Mr. Xia escaped from their police station in 2019 after he was arrested for talking to people about Falun Gong at a fair in Hujiazhuang Township that year. Upon learning of his latest arrest by the Yongyang Police Station, the Hujiazhuang Township Police Station decided to prosecute him for his escape.
Mr. Xia’s loved ones implored the police to release him as he has broken no law in practicing his faith. The Hujiazhuang Township Police Station instead produced a notice of administrative detention that bore the seal of the Laishui County Police Department, which oversees both police stations. The notice said Mr. Xia was given another 11 days of administrative detention at the Laishui County Lockup, beginning July 23, 2022.
After the additional 11 days of administrative detention had expired, however, Mr. Xia was not released but was transferred to the Laishui County Detention Center. His case was then submitted to the Laishui County Procuratorate, before being forwarded to the Zhuozhou City Procuratorate. Laishui County is under the jurisdiction of Baoding City. The Zhuozhou City Procuratorate and Zhuozhou City Court have been designated to handle all Falun Gong cases in Baoding City.
The Zhuozhou City Procuratorate indicted Mr. Xia at an unknown date and moved his case to the Zhuozhou City Court.
When Mr. Xia’s family called the Laishui County Detention Center in May 2023, they were stunned to hear that he had already been transferred to the Jidong Branch of the Hebei Province Prison Administration Bureau on April 18, 2023. There are eight prisons within the Jidong Branch and they are all located in Tangshan City. The detention center refused to say which prison Mr. Xia was taken to.
The family called judge Xie Wenhai of the Zhuozhou City Court, who told them that Mr. Xia had been sentenced to 1.5 years on March 31, 2023. Xie said that they didn’t inform the family of his trial or conviction because he didn’t have a lawyer. The family hasn’t received any formal notice from the prison concerning Mr. Xia’s incarceration either.
Related reports:
Hebei Man Secretly Sentenced to 1.5 Years for Practicing Falun Gong
Hebei Man Faces Prosecution for Raising Awareness about the Persecution of His Faith
Police Threaten To Cut Off Falun Gong Practitioners’ Fingers While Collecting Their Fingerprints
Mr. Xia Hongmin in Laishui County, Hebei Province Arrested Again
Persecution of Practitioner Mr. Xia Hongmin from Laishui County in Hebei Province
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