(Minghui.org) While serving time for his faith, a resident of Weichang County, Hebei Province, was tortured to the point of having to be resuscitated in a hospital.
Mr. Wang Yongxing was arrested together with 12 other local residents on July 13, 2019, while studying Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999. He stood trial on September 28, 2020, and was sentenced to four years with a 10,000-yuan fine around October 30, 2020. Not long after his wrongful conviction, he was transferred to the Jidong Prison in Tangshan City, Hebei Province.
Mr. Wang became gravely ill as a result of the abuse he suffered in prison and was rushed to Xiehe Hospital in Tangshan City. He was discharged on the afternoon of July 1, 2023 and taken straight back to the prison. It is unclear if he is still receiving medical care in the prison.
This is not the first time that Mr. Wang had to be resuscitated while being detained for his faith in Falun Gong. The same happened in 2011 when he was serving one year of forced labor.
Brutally Tortured During One Year of Forced Labor
Mr. Wang used to suffer from cerebral arteriosclerosis (hardening of arteries in the brain), back pain, leg pain, stomach pain, and other diseases. He had to take medication year-round and was unable to do heavy physical work. His illnesses were gone after he took up Falun Gong in 1998. He also became more energetic.
When the persecution of Falun Gong began one year later, Mr. Wang held firm to his faith and was repeatedly targeted.
While doing odd jobs in Kailu County, Inner Mongolia, in 2011, he raised awareness of the persecution of Falun Gong in his spare time. He was reported to the police and arrested on September 11 that year. Kailu County Domestic Security Office agents held him at the Kailu County Detention Center for more than a month before giving him one year of forced labor at the Tumuji Forced Labor Camp in Hohhot City, Inner Mongolia. He was assigned to Team Two of the First Brigade.
Mr. Wang was forced to weave car seats and back cushions for long hours without pay. His health declined and was found to have high blood pressure and bronchitis during the labor camp’s bi-annual physical examinations.
On the evening of December 25, 2011, Mr. Wang refused to sing a song as ordered. Captain Wang Yiping punched him in the temple so hard that he immediately passed out. While Mr. Wang was lying unconscious on the ground, captain Wang kicked him in the head with his military boots, all the while yelling, “You’ll die for nothing even if I beat you to death.”
Captain Wang then ordered two inmates to drag Mr. Wang back to his cell. About three or four hours later, the inmates reported that Mr. Wang was dying and only then did captain Wang take him to a hospital.
Mr. Wang’s wife, a disabled person with only one hand, struggled to make ends meet during his detention. His mother died at the age of 78 before he was released on September 9, 2012.
Group Arrest in 2019
Mr. Wang was arrested together with 12 other practitioners on July 13, 2019, while studying Falun Gong’s teachings together. The police ransacked most of their homes the next day and confiscated their Falun Gong books, computers, and printers.
Although the Luanping County Procuratorate returned the practitioners’ cases to the police due to insufficient evidence in November 2019, the police refused to release them and submitted their cases again a month later.
Prior to indicting them on January 19, 2020, prosecutor Bao Zhenxian said to one practitioner’s lawyer, “You don’t need to spend time talking to me anymore. It won’t work. I’ve read too many Falun Gong materials. I know they are all good people. Feel free to defend them however you want in court. Actually, I know too well what you are going to say. But no matter how you defend them, we will still sentence them.”
One judge at the Luanping County Court also attempted to have the practitioners’ lawyers pressure them into renouncing their faith before the hearing. He threatened to give the practitioners heavy terms or have the practitioners or their family members’ workplaces fire them.
During the joint hearing on September 28, 2020, all thirteen practitioners were brought into the courtroom in handcuffs and shackles. The bailiffs removed the restraints at the lawyers’ request. Only Ms. Wang Haiqin’s sister was allowed to attend the hearing in person, as she was defending Ms. Wang in court. All the other practitioners could only have one family member watch the live streaming of the hearing in another room.
Ms. Wang and her husband Mr. Liu Zhifeng’s two lawyers entered a not-guilty plea for them. The other nine lawyers representing the other practitioners entered guilty pleas for their clients.
The couple and Mr. Wang Yongxing also testified in their own defense. They argued that they didn’t violate any law in practicing Falun Gong or striving to be a good person by following Falun Gong’s principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance.
The judge sentenced all 13 practitioners around October 30, 2020.
Mr. Liu Zhifeng was sentenced to six years and fined 10,000 yuan.Mr. Wang Guangxue was sentenced to five years and fined 10,000 yuan;Mr. Wang Yongxing and Ms. Wang Haiqin were each sentenced to four years and fined 10,000 yuan;Mr. Chen Haidong, Ms. Wang Sufang and Ms. Du Guilan were each sentenced to one year and eight months, and fined 5,000 yuan.Ms. Ge Sufen was sentenced to one year and six months, and fined 5,000 yuan.Ms. Li Yanhua was sentenced to one year and three months, with two years probation, and fined 5,000 yuan.Ms. Liu Lina, Ms. Wang Haibing, Ms. Tang Fengxia, and Ms. Liu Fengxia were each sentenced to one year and two months, with two years’ probation, and fined 5,000 yuan.
Related Reports:
Thirteen Hebei Residents Sentenced to Prison for Reading Books on Their Faith Together
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