72-year-old Man Suddenly Dies While Serving a Seven-year Prison Term for Practicing Falun Gong

(Minghui.org)

Name: Wang JianChinese Name: 王建Gender: MaleAge: 72City: TangshanProvince: HebeiOccupation: FarmerDate of Death: April 3, 2023Date of Most Recent Arrest: July 6, 2019Most Recent Place of Detention: Jidong Prison

Mr. Wang Jian’s family was devastated when a guard from Jidong Prison in Hebei Province called on April 3, 2023, to tell them that Mr. Wang had died suddenly.

Mr. Wang of Tangshan City, Hebei Province, was targeted in a group arrest of Falun Gong practitioners on July 6, 2019. More than 300 officers were dispatched to arrest him and 18 other practitioners. Several officers scaled Mr. Wang’s fence and broke in at around 3 a.m. He and his wife were woken up by a barking dog. The police took Mr. Wang away and then ransacked his home. They returned in the afternoon and ransacked the home again.

Twelve of the practitioners stood trial in the Zunhua City Court on December 17, 19, and 23, 2019, and were sentenced to from two to eight years on November 27, 2020. Mr. Wang was sentenced to seven years and fined 5,000 yuan.

Mr. Wang was taken to Jidong No.2 Prison. According to his family, he was still in good health when he had a physical exam on March 2, 2023. He also appeared to be fine and in good spirits when his family visited him on March 19. They wondered what caused such a healthy man to die in only two weeks. They are suing the prison to seek justice.

Mr. Wang was the second Falun Gong practitioner to have died recently in Jidong No.2 Prison. Mr. Lai Zhiqiang, a bus driver in his 50s, died on January 3, 2023, two months before his scheduled release from serving a seven-year term.

Past Persecution

Mr. Wang started to practice Falun Gong, an ancient spiritual discipline, in 1997. Many of his ailments, including a severe heart condition that often caused him to have chest pain and shortness of breath, disappeared shortly after. He lived by Falun Gong’s principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and was recognized by the villagers as a good person.

Since the Chinese communist regime initiated the persecution in 1999, Mr. Wang was regularly detained and tortured for upholding his faith.

Police officers broke into Mr. Wang’s home in October 1999 and took him to the station. He was held in a metal cage with a bare bedboard and no bedding or blanket. Mr. Wang shivered and had a hard time falling asleep. The police refused to give him anything to eat, so his family had to deliver food to him.

Mr. Wang was taken to the local lockup three days later, where a loudspeaker broadcasting propaganda slandered Falun Gong around the clock. Mr. Wang was once denied any food or water for three days. After 25 days, he was transferred to the Zunhua City Detention Center and forced to sort beans. The police extorted 2,500 yuan from him and released him 20 days later.

Mr. Wang was arrested again in late 1999 and held in a conference room in the police station for two weeks. There was no bed, so he was told to sleep on a table. He wasn’t given a blanket either, even though it was snowing outside. The township officials verbally abused him every day.

Mr. Wang’s next arrest was in the fall of 2003. He was taken to the Zunhua City Brainwashing Center and held for 20 days. He held a hunger strike to protest the persecution and was released after developing a severe heart condition.

He was threshing corn at home on October 17, 2007, when the police broke in and seized him. In the Zunhua City Lockup, the police stomped on his chest and verbally abused him. He had difficulty breathing and chest pain. He kept coughing and lost his appetite. His wife and daughter asked Zhang Lihua, the director of Zunhua City Domestic Security Office, to release him. Zhang extorted 3,000 yuan from them and released Mr. Wang after 84 days.

The police broke into Mr. Wang’s home at 10 p.m. on February 24, 2009, and took him to the local brainwashing center, where he was held for six months. Another 6,000 yuan was extorted from him.

Less than a year after he was released, he was arrested at home again on June 22, 2010. The police searched every corner of his home, confiscating his valuables worth several thousand yuan, including his laptop and Falun Gong books. Both Mr. Wang and his son Mr. Wang Yubao were taken to the Zunhua City Lockup. The police slapped the younger Mr. Wang in the face, stomped on him, punched him, and forced him to stand for long hours. Due to the injuries and chest pain from the beating, he was unable to do the forced labor in the lockup.

Both father and son were transferred to the Zunhua City Detention Center on February 26. Mr. Wang Jian was given a labor camp term of unknown length after 20 days and transferred to the Kaiping Forced Labor Camp.

Mr. Wang was arrested two more times, on April 25, 2014, and May 13, 2015. He was detained for 15 days after the May 2015 arrest.

The police attempted to arrest him again on July 29, 2015, but he wasn’t home. The police still ransacked his home and then left. Mr. Wang went to the police station on August 9, seeking the return of the confiscated items. The police refused his request and arrested him four days later. He was held in custody for 13 days.

Related reports:

Zunhua City, Hebei Province: 12 Falun Gong Practitioners Sentenced from 2 to 8 Years

More Than 300 Police Officers Mobilized to Arrest 18 Falun Gong Practitioners