Mr. Wei Danquan, a former PLA Navy officer, has been abducted, imprisoned and tortured on different occasions since 2001, due to he refused to give up practicing Falun Gong. Throughout the years the persecution has caused his health to deteriorate in critical condition, but in August, CCP authorities jailed him again after sentencing him to four years in prison.
Ex-Military Officer Is Near Death as a Result of Persecution in Prison
Mr. Wei Danquan's wife, a practitioner from Shanhaiguan City, Hebei Province, went to Jidong Prison in Tangshan City to visit her husband on October 18, 2008. She surmounted many obstacles to see her husband in person.
Mr. Wei Danquan, about 40 years old, was pale and emaciated when his wife finally got to see him. He was too weak to stand and remained in a chair for the entire visit. Prison guards closely observed him the entire time. Mr. Wei's wife talked to him on the phone through the glass. Their conversation was amplified and everyone in the corridor of the reception room could hear it clearly.
Mr. Wei was an officer at Shanhaiguan Navy Aviaition Airport, but he was suspended from his duties for practicing Falun Gong. Since then, he has been arrested, detained, tortured, and sentenced to imprisonment. His house was ransacked, and his property confiscated. The relentless persecution throughout the years has caused his health to deteriorate. He now has heart problems, a chest infection, and tuberculosis and has even vomited a large amount of blood. He is in critical condition.
Jidong Prison officials had apparently refused to admit Mr. Wei Danquan initially, since the severity of his condition exceeded the standards for admission. He was only accepted after Shanhaiguan City police made a deal with the prison administration. He was taken to a hospital and hospitalized for six days after arriving at the prison. He was discharged prematurely, however, as no one was willing to pay his medical expenses. Until recently he was bedridden and his health was extremely poor.
Mr. Wei's family had no knowledge of his detention when he first arrived at Jidong Prison. It was only when the prison authorities discovered that he did not have any daily necessities on his arrival that he was allowed to phone his family and ask them to send him the things he needed. It was at this point that his wife learned of his imprisonment.
During his appeal, his wife went to many local law firms, but none of them dared to take up his case. The lawyers said that there was a notice from their superiors that they were not allowed to take any Falun Gong cases. Finally she found a lawyer in her hometown in northeast China. After reading the files, the lawyer said the verdict in Mr. Wei's case was not only illogical but also not in line with the law, so the lawyer requested a retrial. The police, the procurator, and the court authorities were all contacted, and they made it very clear that the pressure to arrive at the verdict was from the provincial government. In all of Mr. Wei's files, there was not a single statement that he had made. Among all the files of practitioners who were illegally arrested, only one mentioned Mr. Wei's name. However, the authorities fabricated more than 500 pages of testimony in order to have him sentenced to four years of imprisonment.
The police from Nanguan Station arrested Mr. Wei in May 2001, when he and his family were touring Jiaoshan near Shanhaiguan Pass, Hebei Province. He was inhumanly tortured during his four months in a detention center and contracted tuberculosis and heart diseases as a result. He was sentenced to forced labor in April 2003 and held in Hehuaken Forced Labor Camp, where he was exposed to unconscionable methods of torture. His tuberculosis returned by the end of November, when x-rays revealed serious problems. The labor camp released him, fearing that his illness was highly contagious. In April 2004, Mr. Wei was arrested again and the police, the procurator, and the court authorities collaborated to sentence him. Shortly after New Year's Day in 2005, Mr. Wei was secretly arrested and detained for a long time. He was sent home only when the tuberculosis recurred.
On April 14, 2007, Mr. Wei was arrested once again by officers from Shanhaiguan District Police Branch under the direct command of the newly appointed head, Zhao Ran. At about 10 a.m., seven to eight police officers climbed over the wall to enter the courtyard of Mr. Wei's rental property. They pried open the front door and ransacked his house. Mr. Wei was later confined in the Shanhaiguan No. 3 Detention Center. On May 13, 2008, the police asked the court to put the case on file for investigation and prosecution. On June 10, the court held a closed door trial. Mr. Wei collapsed and lost consciousness during the proceedings. On June 23, the court tried Mr. Wei again. They fabricated charges and sentenced him to four years in prison. On August 3, he was taken to Jidong Prison in Tangshan City.
Mr. Wei Danquan was forced to leave his post at the Shanhaiguan Airport for refusing to give up his belief in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, the principle of Falun Gong. He was repeatedly arrested and detained and sentenced to forced labor or imprisonment. His family had to rely on his wife's limited income. Mr. Wei's parents live in the countryside and are very poor. His parents and his wife put all their money together to pay the 5,000-yuan fee for the lawyer.