Hu Heping

Mr. Hu Heping, 55, was a painter living in Yueyang City, Hunan Province. He began practicing Falun Dafa in 1997. He went to Beijing to appeal twice, in 1999 and 2000, and was detained first 30 then 45 days in the Hubin Detention Center.

On March 12, 2003, Mr. Hu was arrested and sentenced to two years of forced labor, which he served in the Xinkaipu Labor Camp. The guards injected unknown drugs into him three times because he refused to give up his faith. The guard said, "If you refuse to be "transformed," you'll just endlessly cough!" Mr. Hu had a strong reaction to the injection, and he coughed day and night until he started vomiting blood. Guard He Jun ordered prisoner Huang to slap Mr. Hu with a shoe. He was tortured for seven days, where he was forced to remain standing facing a wall and not allowed to sleep. He was released at the end of 2004. 

At around 9 a.m. on March 18, 2008, Mr. Hu was resting at home when Lowang Community agent Li Yongfei, Lowang Neighborhood Administration employee Zhang Yifei, and officer Lu Ran from the Lowang Police Station led a group officers to arrest Mr. Hu. By 2 p.m., they had taken him to Dongtingguan Hotel to be interrogated for a full day. They took him to the Yueyang City First Detention Center on March 19, 2008.

Due to the torture that Mr. Hu endured while in police custody, his internal organs were injured, there was blood in his urine, and his legs and feet were swollen. He could not stop coughing. His weight dropped from 120 pounds to just 90 pounds. Agents from the 610 Office and Domestic Security Division did not allow his family to see him, and they forced him to do hard labor for 12-16 hours per day.

On June 16, 2008, guards took him to the Yueyang City First Hospital for a check-up, and they found his internal organs were severely damaged and he had liver cirrhosis. Even under such circumstances, the Yueyang City 610 Office and Domestic Security Division were still reluctant to release him. However, the Detention Center authorities feared that he would soon die. They notified Mr. Hu's family to bring money on June 17 and bail him out for medical treatment on June 18, 2008.

At that point, Mr. Hu was very weak. He had severe swelling from his abdomen down to his toes, and he had difficulty walking. He never recovered from his injuries and died on the early morning of August 7, 2008.