(Minghui.org)
Name: Ma ChangqingChinese Name: 马长青Gender: MaleAge: 70City: YushuProvince: JilinOccupation: Road maintenance workerDate of Death: September 18, 2023Date of Most Recent Arrest: August 10, 2022Most Recent Place of Detention: Jilin City Prison
A 70-year-old Yushu City, Jilin Province resident died on September 18, 2023, while serving a four-year term for speaking up for his faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual teaching that has been persecuted in China since July 1999.
Mr. Ma Changqing was arrested around August 10, 2022, after the police saw him putting up a poster through the Yushu City Chinese Medicine Hospital’s surveillance camera. He was taken to a detention center facility in nearby Changchun City on the same day. His daughter, who struggles with epilepsy and can't care for herself, was taken to a senior center. The Dehui City Court sentenced him to Jilin City Prison some time in 2023.
The prison called Mr. Ma’s sister-in-law on September 18, 2023 and said that they were taking him to the hospital for an operation for his small intestinal hernia. But hours later, the prison called again and said Mr. Ma had died. As the prison refused to provide any details about Mr. Ma’s death, his sister-in-law suspected that the prison was trying to hide the true cause of his death, as hernia usually isn’t a life-threatening condition. She worried whether he was tortured to death in prison because he refused to renounce his faith in Falun Gong.
Persecution Overview
Mr. Ma retired from Yushu City’s road maintenance division. He injured his spinal cord in October 1981 lifting heavy objects at work and has since had to wear a back brace to prevent paraplegia. He could not raise one of his arms. After he began to practice Falun Gong in May 1996, he no longer needed the brace, and his arm became fully functional. The practice allowed him to have good health and a happy family.
In the 24 years of persecution of Falun Gong started by the Chinese Communist Party since 1999, Mr. Ma suffered multiple arrests and detention. He served a two-year sentence for having Falun Gong items at home. His wife, Ms. Mu Chunbo, the director of the street committee and also a practitioner, passed away in 2012 because of the persecution. Their daughter suffered epilepsy since she was little and her condition kept worsening over the years as she was traumatized by her parent’s persecution.
The following summarizes details of the family’s persecution.
Arrested and Fined for Speaking up for Falun Gong
Mr. Ma’s family of three decided to travel to Beijing on January 18, 2000, to speak up for the practice. The police intercepted them in the nearby Changchun City that day. The daughter was released and the couple was locked in Yushu City Detention Center for 46 days. They had to pay for the food and a fine, which added up to over 4,300 yuan.
Wife Passes Away
A few officers from the Domestic Security Division of Yushu City Police Department broke into Mr. Ma’s home on November 15, 2010. Without identifying themselves or showing any legal document, they turned the place upside down and confiscated their Falun Gong books and 33,516 yuan cash.
After Mr. Ma’s arrest and detention, his daughter was terrified and had seizures four times that day. Ms. Mu also worried about her daughter’s condition and husband’s safety.
Mr. Ma was detained for 11 days. The police tried to put him in Chaoyanggou Forced Labor Camp but the guard refused to admit him because of his poor physical condition. After he was released, he went to the Yushu City Domestic Security Office and demanded the police to return the 33,516 yuan they confiscated. The police only gave him 24,000 yuan back.
The financial persecution dealt Ms. Mu a hard blow. She suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and fell into a coma in December 2010. Her treatment racked up a 50,000-yuan medical bill.
When Ms. Mu remained in a coma, Mr. Ma went back to the police station a year later in December 2011, demanding that the police return the 11,516 yuan to pay for her treatment. The police said that they had turned the money over to the government, but refused to show him the receipt. Unable to afford the hospital stay, he had to take his wife home.
At home, Mr. Ma fed Ms. Mu liquid food through a tube and drained her phlegm through an incision on her throat. She later developed severe bedsores on the back, buttocks, and legs. She passed away on March 29, 2012.
Tortured in Brainwashing Center
The authorities arrested Mr. Ma in July 2013, and held him at a brainwashing center for 15 days. After he returned home, he began to have a stomachache and abdominal pain. He was bedridden for nearly two weeks and could not keep his food down. His vomit appeared black. At the hospital, the doctor performed gastroscopy and colonoscopy on him, and said the lining inside his stomach and intestine completely festered and detached.
Mr. Ma suspected that the authorities added toxic drugs to his food at the brainwashing center. Another practitioner he knew, Ms. Cui Zhanyun, who was held in the same brainwashing center and force-fed with unknown drugs, suffered similar symptoms upon her release and passed away shortly after.
Arrested at Train Station
Two officers arrested Mr. Ma at the Changchun City Train Station on October 14, 2017. The police searched his bag and found 10,178 yuan of paper currency with information exposing the brutal persecution printed on them (due to strict information censorship in China, many Falun Gong practitioners use creative ways to raise awareness about the persecution, including printing messages on paper currency).
At the railroad public safety office, Mr. Ma clarified the truth to the police and told them how he recovered from a spinal cord injury through the practice. He also told them that he had a daughter at home who needed his attention. The police went to his home and verified his story. They released him the next day but refused to return the cash to him. They also issue him a notice of residential surveillance and demanded him to report to the police station whenever he was summoned.
Sentenced to Two Years
Mr. Ma was taken back into custody seven months later on May 7, 2018. The police put him in Changchun City 2nd Detention Center, and his daughter in Yushu City Welfare Center.
The Changchun City Railroad Court held a hearing of his case on May 25, 2018, and sentenced him to two years with a 2,000-yuan fine on June 15. He filed an appeal, but the higher court ruled to uphold his original verdict.
Relentless Torture in Prison
Wearing handcuffs chained to his shackles, Mr. Ma was taken to Gongzhuling Prison on August 21, 2018, where he suffered unspeakable torture.
Starvation
Mr. Ma was placed under strict management for four months. In the first two months, he was only given a bowl of watered-down porridge for every meal, which was sometimes too salty to consume. His weight dropped from 120 lbs to 80 lbs during that time.
The guards used the hunger torture that barely kept him alive to wear out his will. Because Mr. Ma told the doctor that the guards starved him during a health exam in September 2018, he suffered even more brutal torture.
Shocked with Electric Batons and Covered in Bloody Blisters
A head guard dragged Mr. Ma to an isolated room, where three others held him down and shocked him with electric batons at maximum voltage. The batons had to be recharged every ten minutes. The guards went through over 30 electric batons in two hours. After they were done, Mr. Ma was covered in bloody blisters and suffered unspeakable pain.
He could not drink water for the next 24 hours. As soon as he took in water, his blisters would be filled with liquid. He worried that if they burst, he could have a serious skin infection.
One day in 2019, an inmate took Mr. Ma’s shoes. While he tried to get his shoes back, three guards faulted him for picking a fight. They took him to a room without a surveillance camera and shocked him with electric batons.
Beatings and Torture
The initial starvation torture damaged Mr. Ma’s stomach. For the next two years, he often suffered stomach and abdominal pain. He had several more episodes when he could not keep food down, and he could not catch his breath as soon as he lay down. He also suspected whether the guards drugged him.
One time he struggled with diarrhea and he had an urgent need to use the restroom. Three guards stopped him and ordered him to talk with them in their office. He was forced to relieve himself in the hallway. The guards became furious and beat him.
A collaborator slandered Falun Gong in the attempt to make the imprisoned practitioners renounce their faith. Mr. Ma urged the collaborator to stop what he did. The collaborator reported him to a head guard, who viciously beat him. Another time the collaborator pushed him and caused him to fall and injure his tailbone. This resulted in him having sharp pain in his lower back and could barely use a toilet.
Mr. Ma suffered chest and back pain in February 2019. The prison doctor said that he had angina. When he told a head guard that he wanted to go to a hospital, the guard slapped his head and face two dozen times, and forbade him from wearing a hat during the winter.
The brutal beatings, slapping on the head, and shocking with high-voltage electric batons caused him to lose hearing in both ears and partial eyesight.
Financial Persecution
In the 24 years of persecution, the authorities ransacked his home, confiscated his property and cash, and suspended two years of his retirement. It has caused him a total financial loss of 261,761 yuan. The financial loss came from the following incidents:
- The detention of both him and his wife in January 2000 cost him 4,300 yuan.- The officers from the Domestic Security Office kept 11,516 yuan out of the 35,516 yuan confiscated from him during the arrest on November 15, 2010. His wife’s stroke was a direct result of his arrest, and her medical bill was 50,000 yuan.- The railroad police in Changchun City confiscated 10,178 yuan cash from him on October 14, 2017. A judge fined him 2,000 yuan along with a two-year sentence.- While he was in prison and his daughter sent away for two years, his house was burglarized. His electric car, television, and other possessions, worth over 70,000 yuan, were stolen.- The social security authorities suspended his pension for two years, which added up to 115,773 yuan total.
Related reports:
Police Arrest Man for His Faith, Place His Epileptic Daughter in Nursing Home
Police from Yushu City Break into Mr. Ma Changqing’s Home and Steal Money
Jilin Domestic Security Police Carry Out Illegal Break-ins and Arrests, Woman Left in Coma
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