Shandong Man Dies Months After Being Released on Medical Parole, Harassed Before Death

(Minghui.org) A Weifang City, Shandong Province, resident passed away on July 1, 2021, less than five months after he was released from prison on medical parole, shortly after he was sentenced to eight years for practicing Falun Gong. Even three months before he died, the police still harassed Mr. Chu Liwen and his son, forcing them to live away from home. 

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Mr. Chu Liwen

Mr. Chu and his son, Mr. Chu Qinghua were arrested on September 22, 2019. The police ransacked their home and confiscated personal items valued at 20,000 yuan. Mr. Chu Liwen was taken to the Weifang City Detention Center. His son was released on bail on September 23, after he was denied admission due to a medical condition.

Liu Chuanjun, the head of the Xiashan District Domestic Security Office, submitted Mr. Chu Liwen’s case to the Fangzi District Procuratorate on October 16, which returned the case due to insufficient evidence before indicting him in March 2020. 

When Mr. Chu Liwen’s lawyer reviewed his case document in the Fangzi District Court, he noticed that Mr. Chu's son’s case had also been transferred there.

Although the Fangzi District Court has returned the elder Mr. Chu’s case twice due to insufficient evidence, the police refused to release him and still attempted to pressure the judge into sentencing him.

Mr. Chu Qinghua was ordered by the police on June 22, 2020, to go to the hospital for a physical exam, but he refused to comply. On January 13, 2021, the police arrested him on the street when he was selling baked flatbread, and took him to the hospital for the physical. 

A month later, on February 9, Mr. Chu Liwen was sentenced to eight years. He was released shortly after, as he was extremely ill while imprisoned.

The police arrested the younger Mr. Chu again on April 7 and interrogated him. 

Both the father, who was still suffering from severe symptoms, and son were forced to live away from home to avoid the ongoing police harassment. 

The police scaled the fence and broke into their home on June 2, 2021. Failing to find them, the police harassed Mr. Chu Liwen’s ex-wife and their daughter instead.

Mr. Chu Liwen passed away on July 1, 2021. He was 65. It’s not clear whether he died at home or was still displaced at the time of his death.

Beaten and Humiliated for Speaking Out for His Faith

Since the persecution of Falun Gong was launched on July 20, 1999, Mr. Chu Liwen spent nine years behind bars and was tortured. He served three labor camp terms, including  onethree-year and two one-year terms (he was released on medical parole after 20 days of incarceration after his first one-year labor camp term), as well as a five-year prison term and the latest eight-year term. His son served two and a half years in a labor camp and three years in prison.

Below is a summary of the persecution suffered by Mr. Chu Liwen. 

Mr. Chu was arrested by officers from the Taibaozhuang Police Station on July 18, 1999, as part of a nationwide arrest of coordinators for various regional Falun Gong groups. He was released toward the end of July.

He went to Beijing to speak out for Falun Gong on October 14, 1999. As he returned to his hometown, he was arrested by the local police on October 17. He was handcuffed to a chair with his arms behind his back for eleven days at the police station and was slapped in the face repeatedly.

Torture reenactment: handcuffed to a chair

The police paraded Mr. Chu through the streets around town to publicly humiliate him. Then he was locked up at the local detention center for a month, after which the police took him back to the police station for another month’s detention.

Tortured at the Wangcun Labor Camp

Mr. Chu was arrested on February 2, 2000, and taken to the local detention center, where he was handcuffed to a tree in the cold, handcuffed with his arms behind his back to a chair, and shackled. A month later, he was held at the police station until April 14, when he was transferred to Wangcun Labor Camp to serve a three-year term.

Mr. Chu went on a hunger strike to protest the maltreatment and was force-fed. He was also forced to do hard labor, including construction work. While held in the First Unit of Team 3, with a guard’s approval, an inmate stomped on his chest. The attack caused Mr. Chu to have difficulty breathing for a long time.

Torture reenactment: stomp attack

Around the 2000 Chinese New Year, a guard took Mr. Chu to the third floor, stripped off his clothes, handcuffed him to a window frame, and opened the windows and door to the freezing cold. The torture went on from 10 p.m. until 4 a.m. for two days in a row. On the third day, he was not handcuffed but was left in the cold until 3 a.m.

When Mr. Chu was transferred to Team 9, an inmate pricked the soles of his feet with steel needles, causing his feet to bleed. He had blood in his shoes. The inmate then pushed him to the floor and stomped on his arms.

On August 24, 2001, Mr. Chu was transferred to Zhangqiu Labor Camp in Shandong Province. A campaign to coerce him into giving up his practice of Falun Gong started on September 6. He was forced to sit on a small bench and face the wall in a damp and dingy cell 24 hours a day without sleeping for seven consecutive days and nights. 

The guards forced Mr. Chu to sit in the lotus position with both legs crossed and then tied up his legs, with his arms tied behind him. He was left in this position for several days and only let loose temporarily to eat or use the toilet. As he continued to refuse to renounce his belief, the guards handcuffed one of his arms to the top of a bunk bed and the other arm to the bottom bunk of another bed. In this position he could neither stand up straight nor sit down. This torture lasted for eight days, during which time he was not allowed to use the toilet.

While confined in the isolation cell, Mr. Chu was also subjected to other forms of inhuman treatment. The guards forced him to sit on a small bench for extended periods of time, struck his shins with a wooden chair, beat him so savagely that his left eardrum was ruptured and his teeth were broken, and also struck his head with a hard plastic shoe sole, causing his head to bleed.

He was released on April 3, 2003.

Shackled and Beaten at the Detention Center

Four months later, Mr. Chu was arrested again on August 18, 2003 and locked up in a metal cage at the Taibaozhuang Police Station. Then he was handcuffed to a metal chair during an interrogation before being transferred to the detention center.

During his detention, the guards beat him with a leather rod, then handcuffed and shackled his limbs together and beat him savagely. The torture continued for months until November 18, 2003, when he was sentenced to five years in prison.

While he was imprisoned, the police kept harassing his wife and two children. Unable to bear the pressure, she divorced him in 2003.

Inhuman Treatment at Northern Weifang City Prison

Mr. Chu was sent to Northern Weifang City Prison on December 24, 2003 to serve his term. Every few days, the guards shocked him all over his body with electric batons. During the brainwashing sessions, inmates beat him and choked him until he passed out.

He was transferred to the Sixth Ward on March 12, 2004. Two days later, he was stripped of his clothes and handcuffed with his arms behind his back to a tree, while guards shocked him with five electric batons over his entire body until they ran out of power. His face was disfigured and his skin was severely blistered as a result.

Mr. Chu was locked up in solitary confinement on August 18, 2004. The guards instigated inmates to pour water over his body, ration his food, deprive him of sleep by forcing him to stand, and strip off his clothes to expose him to mosquitoes. His body was soon covered in painful mosquito bites.

Several guards frequently came to the solitary cell to shock Mr. Chu with electric batons. He was once shocked on his neck until the skin was burned. He was shocked again by three guards on December 19, 2006. 

Mr. Chu was transferred to a solitary cell in the First Ward on October 20, 2004. In the morning, the guards shocked him with four batons while he was handcuffed to a chair with his arms behind his back. Inmates forced him to sit on a bed plank in his underwear for extended periods of time. At night he was tied to the metal bed frame while inmates took turns pouring cold and hot water alternately over him until dawn.

Such torture continued for days, yet Mr. Chu refused to renounce his belief. An inmate forced him onto a bed frame with sharp-edged metal bars facing up, then stomped on his shins. The flesh on his calves was lacerated and bled profusely. The inmate went on to prick his thighs with a hypodermic needle.

On February 5, 2006, Mr. Chu was beaten with a bamboo stick until his left eardrum was ruptured a second time.

Continued Persecution

After Mr. Chu was released on August 17, 2008, he was taken to a brainwashing center in Weifang City that same day, where he was handcuffed to a radiator and beaten. That night he was taken to the local police station and handcuffed to a chair. The next day he was taken to the local middle school and ordered to give up his practice of Falun Gong. Later he was transferred to the village committee office. He was tied up with ropes that cut into his flesh, then he was handcuffed to a chair at the local police station, a hood was placed over his head, and he was beaten by a group of people.

On September 5, 2008, Mr. Chu was arrested and detained at the Shandong Province No. 2 Labor Camp for a one-year term. He had symptoms of severe illness after twenty days in the labor camp and was released on bail for medical treatment on September 25.

More Detention and Another Labor Camp Term

Mr. Chu was arrested again on December 15, 2011 and detained at the Weifang City Detention Center for five days. Before arresting him, four officers beat him with hard sticks on his head in his front yard, until he was on the verge of death. He was left lying on the ground overnight.

He was about to harvest wheat in his farm field, when eight officers scaled the fence, broke in and arrested him on June 11, 2012. He was given one year in the Shandong Province No. 2 Labor Camp this time.

Perpetrators’ contact information:
Xiashan Police Department: [phone], [phone]Liu Chuanjun (刘传军), head of the Domestic Security Office: [phone]Qu Lezhong (曲乐众), officer of the Domestic Security Office: [phone]Taibaozhuang Police Station: [phone]Jiang Yumei (蒋玉美), prosecutor of the Fangzi District Procuratorate: [phone]

Related reports:

After 11 Years Of Incarceration, Shandong Man Faces Trial Again for His Faith

Talking about My Father, Chu Liwen

The Persecution of Mr. Chu Liwen and His Son, Chu Qinghua

Falun Dafa Practitioner Mr. Chu Liwen’s Current Whereabouts Unknown After Being Sent to Weibei Prison