(Minghui.org) A 36-year-old man in Julu County, Hebei Province started a hunger strike in protest three days after he was arrested on July 20, 2023 for his faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999. Mr. Lu Gang has now become very weak after nearly three weeks of hunger strike. He is also facing indictment.
Mr. Lu’s bedridden mother, who witnessed his arrest from their shared home, became so distraught upon learning of his hunger strike and precarious condition that she also refused to eat or drink. Her already frail health quickly deteriorated and she is now in serious condition also.
Deceit and Intimidation Before and After Arrest
One day in 2022, Mr. Lu received an alert that a local court had frozen the bank card he’d designated to deposit his paycheck. So he went to there to inquire about the reason.
The judge in charge of the matter said the court froze Mr. Lu’s bank card to fulfill a requirement set forth in his prison sentence given in 2016. The requirement called for the sales of his printer, computer and other valuables to pay a court fine. As Mr. Lu never did those things, the court now froze his bank card.
Mr. Lu argued that he should never been sentenced to prison for exercising his constitutional right to freedom of belief, and hence, the court fine was illegal. He demanded that his bank card be reactivated immediately. The judge agreed, but said that the person who handled bank card procedures wasn’t in that day and he promised to reactivate it the next day. He asked Mr. Lu to sign two documents regarding the reactivation of his bank card and Mr. Lu signed both of them.
Then the judge took out another form, which had two big blank boxes with a line below them reading, “This person was once sentenced to prison for using a cult organization to undermine law enforcement [the standard pretext used by the Chinese Communist Party to frame and imprison Falun Gong practitioners].”
Mr. Lu refused to sign, worried that the authorities may attempt to frame him again for his faith. The judge took the form back and wrote “subpoena” in one of the boxes and urged him to sign it. Pressured by the judge, Mr. Lu signed the form, only to regret it upon returning home.
Mr. Lu’s worry about further persecution materialized on July 20, 2023, when agents from the Julu County Domestic Security Office and the Yantong Town Police Station arrested him at home and confiscated his computer, printer, Falun Gong books, and other valuables.
Shortly after his arrest, the police summoned Mr. Lu’s father to the police department to sign some paperwork without allowing him to read it. They threatened to make his son disappear if he didn’t comply. The elder Mr. Lu obliged, only to learn later that the paperwork he signed was the arrest warrant against his son. He then sought to nullify his signature, but the police refused to return the paperwork he signed.
With the arrest warrant, the police took the younger Mr. Lu to the Julu County Detention Center, where he soon started a hunger strike.
As Mr. Lu refused to renounce his faith, the police summoned his father to the detention center to “work” on him. They promised to release him as soon as he signed statements to give up his belief. Mr. Lu, who had become very weak from his hunger strike, said to his father in a barely audible voice, “Dad, go home please. Don’t ever come here again [per the police’s order]. I’ll never renounce my faith!” He also said to the police, “Don’t ever try again to make me ‘transform’!”
Prior 5-Year Prison Sentence, Released One Year Ahead of Time
Mr. Lu was previously arrested on March 9, 2016, after being reported for displaying Falun Gong informational materials at Dongliji Farmers’ Market. Chief Wei Jianchao of the Hetaoyuan County Police Station and several other officers arrested him. They beat him at the police station before transferring him to the Guangzong County Police Department’s detention center.
Hours after Mr. Lu’s arrest, Mr. Cai Yun and a few other practitioners went to the Hetaoyuan Police Station to seek his release. Mr. Cai was arrested on the spot and taken to the same detention center where Mr. Lu was held.
The Guangzong County Procuratorate approved the two practitioners’ arrests on April 14, 2016, and forwarded their cases to the Guangzong County Court on June 3 that year.
The court held two hearings, on August 4 and September 12, 2016. During the second hearing, many local practitioners tried to attend, to show their support for Mr. Lu and Mr. Cai. The court workers refused to let them in. One practitioner protested, “Every citizen has the right to attend a public trial. This is our basic human right.” The presiding judge responded, “Don’t you talk to me about the law!” The crowd erupted into laughter. Someone asked, “If the judge didn’t even want to talk about the law, how could he uphold justice for wrongly-indicted defendants?”
The judge interrupted the defense lawyers many times during the court session. Mr. Lu’s parents demanded his acquittal and were both removed from the courtroom.
The two practitioners’ families were informed in early January 2017 that their loved ones had been sentenced to prison, with Mr. Lu given five years and Mr. Cai three years. They both appealed to the Xingtai City Intermediate Court, which ruled on February 17, 2017, to uphold the original sentences.
Mr. Lu and Mr. Cai were transferred to the Liucun Farm in Shahe City on March 15, 2017, and then admitted to the Jidong No. 4 Prison a month later.
When Mr. Lu was released one year early in 2020, his wife had divorced him and gained sole custody of their son. His mother fell ill and became incapacitated due to the mental distress of worrying about him. The entire family relied on his father’s sole income to get by.
Related Reports:
36-year-old Man on Hunger Strike Following Latest Arrest for Practicing Falun Gong
Two Practitioners from Xingtai City Sentenced to Prison
Two Men from Hebei Province Sentenced to Prison for Their Belief
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