76-year-old Man Dies in Prison While Serving Time for His Faith

(Minghui.org)

Name: Jia ChunzhenChinese Name: 贾春臻Gender: MaleAge: 76City: Linxia CountyProvince: GansuOccupation: N/ADate of Death: March 18, 2022Date of Most Recent Arrest: April 2020Most Recent Place of Detention: Lanzhou Prison

The family of Mr. Jia Chunzhen, a resident in Linxia County, Gansu Province, was recently informed by the Lanzhou Prison that the 76-year-old man had died there on March 18, 2022, while serving a four-year term for his faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

The prison refused to provide further information about Mr. Jia’s death. As his family had been denied visits with him in the past year due to the pandemic, they are very concerned that he was tortured to death.

The last time Mr. Jia’s family was allowed to visit him was around February 2021. At the time, he had lost most of his vision and hearing, after less than a year of detention. He was also holding a hunger strike to protest the persecution. His family was worried that he was force-fed and subjected to other torture for upholding his faith.

Mr. Jia was arrested in April 2020 and sentenced to four years with a 3,000-yuan fine in December that year.

Prior to his latest persecution, Mr. Jia was arrested on June 9, 2012, and sentenced to five years in November 12. The police continued to harass him after he was released from the Tianshui Prison on June 10, 2017.

Mr. Jia was arrested again on June 21, 2019. His Falun Gong books, a music player, two flash drives, and over ten bags of vegetable seeds were confiscated. The police also tore down two pairs of decorative couplets at his home.

Perpetrators’ contact information:
Ma Jun (马军), president of Linxia Prefecture Court: [phone], [phone]Ma Yuxiang (马玉祥), president of Linxia County Court: [phone]Zhu Zhi (朱志), president of Linxia County Procuratorate: [phone]Zhao Wenjie (赵文杰), head of Linxia County Police Department: [phone]Xie Junhui (谢军惠), officer of Xinji Police Station: [phone]

Related reports:

75-year-old Loses Vision and Hearing While Serving Time for His Faith

75-year-old Man Sentenced to Four Years for His Faith