(Minghui.org)
Name: Wang YuanshengChinese Name: 王元升Gender: MaleAge: 75City: HengshuiProvince: HebeiOccupation: N/ADate of Death: November 10, 2024Date of Most Recent Arrest: October 20, 2016Most Recent Place of Detention: Jidong Prison
A Hengshui City, Hebei Province, resident had a stroke and became incapacitated six months before he finished serving a three-year term in 2019 for his faith in Falun Gong. He continued to suffer declining health after his release and eventually passed away on November 10, 2024. He was 75.
Mr. Wang Yuansheng’s death capped his decades of persecution for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been targeted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999. Prior to his last three-year sentence, he also served a one-year labor camp term and another three-year prison term. He was brutally tortured each time he was incarcerated.
Past Persecution
Mr. Wang took up Falun Gong in 1997 and credited the practice for changing his hot temper and improving his health. For doing the Falun Gong exercises in a public area shortly after the persecution started in 1999, he was detained for two weeks. He was arrested again in 2000 for going to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong. He was given one year at the Shijiazhuang City Labor Camp, where he was subjected to brutal torture for refusing to renounce his faith.
In one of the torture methods, the inmates stripped Mr. Wang’s clothes and wrapped two steel clotheslines around his arms and handcuffed his hands behind his back, as directed by the prison guards. They pushed his body forward, causing the steel wires to cut deeply into his flesh. Blood dripped from the wounds. Some practitioners were tortured like this for over half an hour.
After this abuse, Mr. Wang was unable to raise one of his arms; his fingers remained curled; and he couldn’t make a fist. It was difficult for him to eat. When he was released, he still couldn’t control his arms, and his vision was impaired.
Mr. Wang was arrested again for telling the public the facts about Falun Gong in June 2006. His home was ransacked. In the local detention center, he shared a cell with an inmate who had been sentenced to death but was later reprieved. The inmate took Mr. Wang’s food and put him in a chokehold during the night. His voice remained hoarse for several months.
Mr. Wang was later indicted by the Jizhou District Procuratorate and sentenced to three years by the Jizhou District Court. Even though he was in critical condition, the police still took him to the Jidong Prison. When the guards refused to admit him, the police left without taking him away. Mr. Wang served the full term and was released in 2009.
Mr. Wang’s last arrest was on October 20, 2016, after being reported for hanging up banners with messages about Falun Gong. The authorities approved his arrest in ten days. By the time his family hired a lawyer for him on November 15, he had already been indicted and was facing trial.
Shortly after Mr. Wang’s lawyer visited him, the police interrogated him, tortured him using a tiger bench and shocked him with electric batons.
The Jizhou District Court held a hearing of Mr. Wang’s case on the morning of January 17, 2017. His lawyer entered a not-guilty plea for him. The court informed his family on April 27, 2017, to pick up his verdict, which stated that he was sentenced to three years and fined 5,000 yuan. He appealed with the intermediate court, and judge Wang Yu ruled to uphold his original verdict.
In his late 60s, Mr. Wang was admitted to the 7th Branch of Jidong Prison. He was often beaten by the guards in their early 20s.
When the 7th Branch of Jidong Prison was shut down in 2018, Mr. Wang was transferred to the 4th Branch. His family wasn’t allowed to visit him, and they weren’t clear what torture he suffered during that time.
In April 2019, Mr. Wang suffered a stroke and became incapacitated. The prison didn’t inform his family of his condition. It took the family much effort to get updates about him and permission to visit him. According to the family, Mr. Wang was emaciated; he couldn’t walk on his own and had to use a wheelchair to get around. Mr. Wang also told them that although the prison arranged an inmate to care for him, the inmate often abused him, including starving him in order to prevent him from using the restroom and pinching him. He had many bruises on his body.
Mr. Wang was in very low spirits with tremendous physical suffering when he was released on October 19, 2019. His health continued to decline over the years, and he died five years later.
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