(Minghui.org) Weeks before the Chinese Communist Party’s 20th Party Congress held between October 16 and 22, 2022, the authorities in Mishan City, Heilongjiang Province harassed local Falun Gong practitioners on their blacklists, in an attempt to prevent the practitioners from raising awareness about the persecution of their faith. 

Two practitioners on the blacklist were Mr. Jiang Honglu and his wife Ms. Yuan Shuzhi. What the police didn’t know was that Ms. Yuan had already succumbed to the persecution and passed away in 2018. When they couldn’t find her, they called her relatives and were told about her death. 

The police then asked the family about Mr. Jiang’s whereabouts in order to photograph him. The family told them that Mr. Jiang had become incapacitated and was now living in a senior center. He was now paralyzed in both legs, unable to talk coherently, has poor memory, and suffers from a prostate condition. 

The couple’s son, 37, was deeply traumatized by the persecution of his parents over the years. He is withdrawn and refuses to socialize with people. He stays in his room most of the time.

Mr. Jiang, 65, used to work at the Mishan City Highway Administration. Both he, his wife, and their son benefited tremendously after they all took up Falun Gong. Because Mr. Jiang talked to people about Falun Gong in 2002, the police shot him in the leg and kicked his head, causing his eyes to protrude. He was later sentenced to 14 years and became disabled as a result of the torture.

The mental pressure from the persecution took a toll on Ms. Yuan’s health. She developed diabetes and had severe swellings in her legs, which eventually resulted in amputation of both legs. Her condition continued to deteriorate after the operation. She passed away on April 4, 2018, shortly after she had her 60th birthday.

A Recap of the Decades-long Persecution

The family of three went to Beijing on July 22, 1999 to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong. They were arrested and taken back to Mishan. At the police station, officers Meng Qingqi and Du Yongshan ordered them to sign statements to renounce Falun Gong. When they refused to comply, the officers signed on their behalf. 

Meng led a dozen officers to break into the family’s home on October 6, 1999 and confiscated their Falun Gong books, a few media players and Falun Gong teaching lecture tapes. Both Mr. Jiang and Ms. Yuan were brought to the police station for interrogation and then taken to the local detention center. After detaining them for one month, the police extorted 12,000 yuan from the couple, before releasing them. 

Mr. Jiang returned to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong on December 3, 1999. He was arrested and taken to the Mishan City Detention Center on December 18. Officer Du beat him with a leather belt. After 13 days at the detention center, he was given three years at the Jixi Forced Labor Camp. The guards there beat him with a baton and kicked him. He was released on March 25, 2001. 

Mr. Jiang was out talking to people about Falun Gong on February 12, 2002, when officer Meng shot him in the leg. The bullet fractured his lower left leg. After he fell, Meng and Du kicked him in the head. He fainted and his eyes protruded. 

Fearing that Mr. Jiang might die from excessive bleeding, the police took him to the hospital. They handcuffed him to a bed and had the doctor push his eyeballs back in place. He wasn’t given any other treatment though, and his family wasn’t allowed to see him.

The police covered his head with a blanket, with him lying on a mattress, and drove him [and the mattress] to the detention center [as he could not stand]. As they drove out of the hospital gate, somebody asked, “What happened to him?” An officer said, “He caught a cold.”

Officers Meng and Du interrogated Mr. Jiang several times at the detention center. They whipped him with a leather belt and force fed him wasabi oil through a nasogastric tube. It took nine months for Mr. Jiang to recover and be able to take care of himself.

The Mishan Court tried Mr. Jiang on October 23, 2002 and sentenced him to 14 years. The guards at Mudanjiang Prison held him in solitary confinement for two weeks because he refused to renounce Falun Gong. When he was let out, he had difficulty maintaining his balance while walking.

By June 6, 2008, Mr. Jiang had lost the ability to talk due to the abuse. In a new persecution campaign in October 2009 when the prison ordered each ward to transform at least 75% of incarcerated Falun Gong practitioners, the inmates deprived Mr. Jiang of sleep, but he still refused to give in.

Mr. Jiang applied for medical parole on May 1, 2010 and was released on August 10, 2010. 

An official of the local justice bureau contacted Mr. Jiang in September 2013 and ordered him to undertake a physical examination. They threatened to take him back into the prison if he hadn’t taken the physical after three notifications. In the same month, the village head also tried to force Ms. Yuan to sign a statement to renounce Falun Gong, but she refused to comply. 

Mr. Jiang was arrested again on September 23, 2015 and taken back to the Mudanjiang Prison on October 13. He was released on February 11, 2016, after he finished serving his term.

Perpetrators’ contact information:

Shi Baoxin (史宝鑫), secretary of Taiping Village: +86-13684672288Peng You (彭友), head of Taiping Village: +86-13836592117Chen Zuoxian (陈作贤), deputy head of Taiping Village: +86-13846001092

Related report:

Mr. Jiang Honglu Shot by Police, Then Sentenced