(Minghui.org) Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a meditation system that consists of gentle exercises and living by the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Since July 1999, this group has been severely persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) such that over 4,300 practitioners have died as a direct result of persecution, many due to torture in official custody. Many more have been arrested, detained, imprisoned, and tortured in conjunction with forced labor or psychiatric abuse.
As described in the Minghui 20th Anniversary Human Rights Report, a document published by the Minghui Publishing Center, perpetrators mistreat detained practitioners severely, both physically and mentally, partly because they know that such brutality does not meet with retaliation from practitioners due to the peaceful nature of their belief.
In traditional Chinese culture, people believe that “good is rewarded with good and evil meets evil,” similar to the saying in Western society, “you reap what you sow.” Those who persecute innocent Falun Gong practitioners and defy the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance face consequences for their actions.
Below are several examples from Hua’nan County, Heilongjiang Province. Located in northeast China, Heilongjiang Province is one of the regions in China where Falun Gong practitioners are persecuted the worst, often being forced to choose between their life and their faith.
Domestic Security Bureau Officials
The Domestic Security Bureau (Guobao, 国保), a branch of the police department at the county level or higher, was officially launched in China in 1998. After the persecution of Falun Gong started in 1999, most arrests of practitioners were overseen through this division along with it subordinate police stations.
Li Jun (李军), director of the Huanan Domestic Security Bureau, closely carried out the persecution policy since its inception in 1999. He arrested more than 100 practitioners, sending dozens to forced labor camps. In addition, he extorted over 100,000 yuan from practitioners and harassed practitioners on more than 2,000 occasions in total.
Practitioners talked with Li many times, explaining to him the facts of Falun Gong and encouraging him to stop doing bad deeds. But Li ignored the advice. Later on, his wife and child left him, and he was in three separate car accidents. On May 12, 2012, Li died suddenly at the age of 57.
Chen Honghui (陈洪辉), who succeeded Li as director of the bureau, also actively participated in the persecution. Within two years, 16 practitioners were arrested because of him. Five were sentenced to prison and two were sent to forced labor camps. The rest were detained and forced to pay fines. He also burned Falun Gong books and portraits of Falun Gong’s founder.
Practitioners repeatedly told Chen not to do what he was doing, but he always ignored their words. A week prior to his death, when a practitioner asked him once again to support the innocent, he dismissed it and replied, “I have been doing this for so many years and I am still alright. If retribution is real, bring it on! I will follow the CPP all the way to the end.”
When Chen was returning from Longshan Town to Huanan on October 31, 2009, he crashed his car into a tree. His skull was crushed and he died instantly. He was in his 40s.
Chen Yujun (陈玉军), an officer of the bureau, was involved in almost all of the arrests of practitioners. In addition, he utilized various tactics to deceive and/or frame practitioners.
One example was Mr. Yang Xiaofeng, a practitioner who worked as a taxi driver. On April 8, 2008, Chen pretended that he needed a ride and asked Mr. Yang to take him to the police department. Once there, Chen and other officers beat Mr. Yang and dragged him inside. Chen hit Mr. Yang in the head so hard with a water bottle that he became deaf in one ear. Mr. Yang was later sent to a forced labor camp for 15 months.
Ten days after Mr. Yang’s arrest, Chen got into a conflict with someone and was stabbed three times. During his stay in the hospital, a practitioner suggested that he stop harming the innocent, but he refused to listen. Later on, he suffered from femoral head necrosis and his wife divorced him, but he still had no regrets.
To counter his poor health, Chen bought a bicycle. As he was riding it on April 19, 2014, he fell into a deep ditch by the side of the road. Emergency measures failed and he died in the hospital. He was 43.
Officers in other divisions of the police department who were also deeply involved in the suppression have experienced karmic retribution.
Lu Guang (卢光) was a deputy director of the Huanan Police Department in charge of cases related to Falun Gong in the region. He was directly responsible for the mistreatment of a large number of practitioners. In the first eight months of 2005 alone, 11 practitioners and their family members were arrested and sent to labor camps. He also extorted money from practitioners and publicly defamed Falun Gong on television programs.
In 2006, Lu was diagnosed with hepatic necrosis. In severe pain, he spent more than 300,000 yuan on a liver transplant in Beijing. Although no longer in charge of persecuting Falun Gong after 2006, he had no regrets for what he had done. He died on June 11, 2014, at the age of 53.
Yu Mingtao (于明涛), an officer with the Xinjian Police Station, always followed the government's persecution policy closely. He harassed most of the practitioners in his area. He died of a sudden illness on June 29, 2012, at 49.
Others also played critical roles in persecuting practitioners where they worked. Wei Zhimin (魏志民), Party secretary of Dabalang Town in 2001 and 2002, actively took part in the persecution and was responsible for at least five practitioners being imprisoned. They and their families were devastated.
Despite his wrongdoings, Wei bragged about his role in the persecution. He was diagnosed with lung cancer and died at home on May 4, 2018, at 65. His wife was also diagnosed with lymphoma.