(Minghui.org) Mr. Ye Shaoxue, 69, a Falun Gong practitioner from Guiyang City, was illegally sentenced to an eight-year prison term by the Yunyan District Court on June 4, 2015. He received the verdict on June 8, 2015 and immediately stated that he would appeal to the upper court.

Ye Shaoxue

Arrested and Family Visit Denied

Mr. Ye was illegally arrested by officers from the Beijinglu Police Station on April 21, 2014. The police ransacked his home. The Yunyan Police Department issued a warrant for his arrest on May 29, 2014.

Mr. Ye has been held in the Yunyan District Detention Center. For about a year, his wife, daughter and son have not been allowed to visit him.

In order to extort a confession from Mr. Ye, the Beijinglu Police Station authorities took him back to the station for a day in early November 2014. Officers pressured him and tried to force him to sign a document, but Mr. Ye refused.

Wife and Daughter Denied Entry to Trial

Mr. Ye was tried by the Yunyan Court on April 15, 2015.

His wife and daughter were not allowed to attend the trial. Only his son and elderly sister were allowed to sit in, but had to sit apart at opposite corners, facing Mr. Ye's back.

The trial began at 9 a.m. and adjourned around 11 a.m. Both the attorney and Mr. Ye pled not guilty. Although the presiding judge kept interrupting, the attorney still did his utmost to thoroughly defend Mr. Ye’s rights.

During the trial, large groups of officers from the Guiyang City Police Department and Yunyan District Police Department were deployed around the court to interrogate and examine passers-by and videotape or expel anyone who stopped and watched.