Heilongjiang Man Serving 12 Years for His Faith Suffers Medical Condition After Being Force-fed

(Minghui.org) A 53-year-old man serving a 12-year term for practicing Falun Gong has developed systemic edema and abdominal fluid accumulation, after being force-fed several times since December 2022.

Instead of holding the guards accountable for torturing him, the prison authorities are demanding that Mr. Li Chang’an’s family provide funds for him to be treated outside of the prison.

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

Mr. Li, a truck driver in Fangzheng County, Heilongjiang Province, was arrested on May 21, 2015 and sentenced to 12 years in Hulan Prison on October 28, 2015. Because he resisted the persecution by refusing to wear the inmates’ uniform, do the unpaid labor or participate in the brainwashing sessions, the prison guards often accused him of disobedience. They frequently tortured him, held him in solitary confinement and restricted his purchases of daily necessities. 

In February 2017, while holding Mr. Li in the solitary confinement cell, the guards stripped his clothes, chained him to a ring fixed on the ground and opened the window to freeze him.

Several guards beat Mr. Li in July 2018 as he refused to wear the inmates’ uniform. He held a hunger strike in the solitary confinement cell and was only taken back to his regular cell when he was on the verge of death. 

The guards held Mr. Li in solitary confinement a total of five times between 2018 and 2019. They frequently beat him, often causing his face to be covered in blood. One of his teeth fell out due to the beating.

Following a reorganization of the prison management in late 2022, Mr. Li was taken to solitary confinement again for not cooperating with the guards. He held a hunger strike in protest and was force-fed, causing him to develop systemic edema and abdominal fluid accumulation. 

The prison only allowed the inmates to make one phone call of no more than 5 minutes with their family per month. The calls were closely monitored as well, so Mr. Li was unable to tell his family the details of the torture he has suffered over the years. 

Perpetrators’ information:

Wei Yuchuan (魏玉川), president of Hulan PrisonLi Jingchao (李晶超), political secretary of Hulan PrisonDeng Xiaogeng (邓晓更), vice president of Hulan Prison

(More perpetrators’ information is available in the original Chinese article.)

Related report:

Truck Driver Sentenced to 12 Years and Severely Persecuted in Hulan Prison