Ma Rongqing

Mr. Ma Rongqing, 55, worked at a cooling storage company in Hulin City, Heilongjiang Province. In late 2000, he went to Beijing to appeal for justice for Falun Gong. After being sent back to his home city, he was detained in the Hulin City detention center and sentenced to one year of forced labor. During his detention in the Jixi City forced labor camp, he was brutally force-fed. Authorities made him run after force-feeding him with salt water. He was locked into a small cage and tortured with electric-shock batons. He refused to give up his practice of Falun Gong, so he was detained an extra month in the Hulin detention center after his labor camp term ended.

On April 2, 2004, Mr. Ma Rongqing was arrested again when he was distributing truth-clarifying materials and hanging banners. He was sentenced to two years of forced labor and was again sent to the Jixi City forced labor camp. He contracted a severe heart problem in the labor camp and was sent home because the labor camp officials feared he might die in their custody, and they did not want responsibility for his death.

On December 26, 2005, the labor camp officers went to his home and took him away under the pretense of medical inspection. At that time, Mr. Ma's wife was paralyzed in bed and had no one at home to take care of her. On January 8, 2006, Mr. Ma was released.

After several years of persecution, Mr. Ma Rongqing was in very poor condition, both financially and physically. On August 27, he died on his way home.