(Clearwisdom.net) Mr. Yu Qingtao is about 40 years old, and is a resident from Xing'an District of Hegang City, Heilongjiang Province. He was sentenced to ten years (July 2002 to July 2012) in prison in July 2002, for robbery. Currently he is jailed in the Jiamusi Prison. Before he was jailed, he was a man who got involved in fights, often fooled around, took things that did not belong to him and drank and ate without control. Nobody could control him, not even his mother who often cried about it. His sister and brother were also scared of him and dared not to say anything. His uncle was cursed by him and avoided him everywhere he went. His girlfriend was often beaten by him and was scared to go home. Eventually she went to Beijing to hide. Even his neighbors were all scared of him and avoided him. He was detained in a labor camp multiple times for fighting and was detained in the Xianglan Prison for seven years for robbery.
Not only did the CCP's labor camp term and imprisonment of over ten years not turn him into a good person, but he became even more cunning and out of control. That bad environment made him even more brutal and he fell further away from the kind nature of a human. Within one year after he left the Xianglan Prison, he committed another crime and ended up in prison again.
In July 2002, he was detained in the First Detention Center of Hegang City for robbery. During this period, the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners was especially brutal and rampant. There were several hundred Falun Gong practitioners detained in the detention center. He witnessed with his own eyes the brutal persecution these practitioners suffered. His jail cell held several Falun Gong practitioners as well. However, their kind words and actions deeply touched his heart. He felt that these people were different from other prisoners. Not only did they not commit any crime, they were people with high morality and kind hearts.
Through deep discussions with Falun Gong practitioners, especially after hearing and reading Dafa books, he understood the truth. He felt that Falun Dafa was great and immediately decided to learn more. Through memorizing Hong Yin, reading new articles and Zhuan Falun, he sighed with regret, “If I had known you all and read Falun Dafa books earlier, I would have not done so many bad and stupid things. I messed up my family, I'm sorry for my mother who raised me, I'm sorry for my sister and brother, and I'm sorry for my uncle's help and concern...”
Not long after he studied Falun Dafa, he quit smoking and started to hold himself to the standard of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Gradually he quit arguing and fighting with other prisoners. The cell mates all found it unbelievable, saying, “This guy has really changed!” In April 2003, he was transferred to the Xianglan Prison, and was beaten up for debating with police guards in order to protect Falun Gong books and resist the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. Later he was transferred to the Lianjiangkou Prison's third middle team of the first zone (local thirteenth team).
Because the Jiamusi Prison and Lianjiangkou were combined, in April 2005, some Falun Gong practitioners were transferred to the zone where he was jailed. The blackboard newspaper in the jail zone contained some words that slandered Falun Dafa. When Yu Qingtao saw them, he walked up and erased the malicious content. The police guards handcuffed him and hung him on the metal fence at the aisle of the family visiting room. At the same time he lost points towards good behavior and could not get a term reduction.
In May 2006, Su Jiafeng, the Associate Middle Team Lead, in charge of education, had a talk with Yu Qingtao. Since Yu Qingtao openly declared his respect for Falun Gong, Su was angry and beat him up along with several prisoners. Su then picked up a rubber baton and beat Yu Qingtao very hard. Mr. Yu was injured all over his body. His face was distorted and his head and face were swollen while lying in a jail cell for several days since he could barely walk. After a month he recovered. In order to cover up the brutality, the jail forbid him to get in touch with the outside world or see his family.
