51-Year-Old Hunan Man Denied Parole and Held in Hospital to Complete Last Two Months of One-Year Prison Term

(Minghui.org) Mr. Lei Yangfan, 51, from Changsha City, Hunan Province, completed a one-year prison sentence on May 14, 2025. He was arrested and imprisoned because he practices Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.

Mr. Lei was subjected to various forms of abuse in prison, including waterboarding, repeatedly having his face slapped, and he was beaten. He became critically ill and was rushed to the hospital on March 23, 2025. The prison refused to release him on parole and kept him detained at the hospital until his term ended on May 14, 2025.

Mr. Lei Yangfan

Mr. Lei was arrested on May 14, 2024 and sentenced to one year in prison on September 25, 2024. He was admitted to the Wangling Prison on December 24, 2024, and assigned to cell 2111 of the Tenth Division on January 17, 2025.

The prison guards instructed the four inmates assigned to monitor Mr. Lei to slap him in the face 100 times with their hands, books, or shoes every day. One inmate said to him one day, “Feeling sad? You still owe me 75 slaps today!”

Mr. Lei was later put in solitary confinement for 15 days, during which time he was given only a small amount of food to eat. Afterwards, he was put in cell 009 where he was subjected to the waterboarding torture. Three times a day the inmates grabbed his hair and dunked his head into a bucket filled with water. They wouldn’t let go until he almost drowned. He couldn’t lift his right hand after the first round of torture and later struggled to lift his left hand.

Despite the abuse, Mr. Lei held firm to his faith and the monitors retaliated by pouring water on his comforter and ordering him to keep his arms outside of the comforter when he slept, during the cold winter. He fell into a coma one day.

The monitors also spanked him on the buttocks so hard that the skin broke and festered. They also used the end of a pen to poke his fingernails and feet.

A prison guard surnamed Deng called Mr. Lei’s family on the evening of March 23, 2025 and said that Mr. Lei had fluid accumulation in his lungs and brain; he was taken to the Liling Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital around 9 a.m. that day; and he was admitted to the intensive care unit around 7 p.m. and issued a critical condition notice. Deng urged the family to visit Mr. Lei at the hospital the next day.

The family rushed to the hospital the next afternoon, where they found Mr. Lei in a coma. He had no response when they called his name. He was emaciated and disfigured. Many officers, some in police uniform and some in plainclothes, were present in the room. The family weren’t allowed to bring their cellphones into the room, nor were they allowed to touch Mr. Lei.

After only a few minutes, the police ordered the family to leave. They said they gave them special permission to visit him. When the family asked Mr. Lei’s doctor about his condition before they left, the doctor said he was already doing much better.

Mr. Lei’s family demanded that the police release him. The police asked them to wait until further notice. The family called the prison numerous times between March 27 and April 14, 2025, but no one ever picked up the phone. They visited the prison management bureau in person multiple times but were still not given any updates.

Officer Deng texted the family on the morning of May 14, 2025, saying that “Mr. Lei had been moved from the ICU to a regular ward. He was still weak and had bedsores.” Around 7 that evening, the prison guards drove Mr. Lei to his apartment building. He managed to walk upstairs to his apartment.

Prior to his latest sentencing, Mr. Lei has been repeatedly arrested, harassed and detained in brainwashing centers. He served two labor camp terms for a total of four years, during which time he was almost tortured to death. He and his wife, Ms. Tang Min, were both arrested on February 12, 2023 because they practice Falun Gong. He was released on August 18, 2023, but his wife was later sentenced to one year and eight months. Ms. Tang was released ahead of time in early January 2025.

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