(Minghui.org) Having served 7.5 years in prison for his faith in Falun Gong, a former senior colonel with the deputy regiment rank of the main battalion was arrested again on July 3, 2023, and is now facing prosecution.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since 1999.
Mr. Hao Jingming, 58, is a former director of the Baishiyi Air Force Meteorological Observatory in Chongqing. After serving his previous 7.5-year prison term in 2018, he moved in with his mother in Pingdu City, Shandong Province to care for her.
Mr. Hao joined a gathering of local Falun Gong practitioners at Ms. Jiang Caifeng’s home in the late afternoon of July 3, 2023. As soon as he stepped into Ms. Jiang’s home, over 20 police officers broke in and handcuffed him. The police then went to raid Mr. Hao’s residence shared with his mother. According to a witness, more than ten police cruisers parked outside of his home.
Upon seeing the police, Mr. Hao’s mother called her daughter, who had left not long after delivering some food to them. Her daughter rushed back and was stopped by the police at the door. She argued that it was her mother’s home and the police relented and let her in.
Mr. Hao’s sister questioned the police why they were arresting him. The police insisted that they had to do it. Before Mr. Hao was eventually taken away by the police at 10 p.m. after hours of standoff, he asked his sister to hire a lawyer for him.
According to an insider, the police had started to monitor Mr. Hao since November 2022. They staked out Ms. Jiang’s home for three weeks in order to catch him. In addition to Mr. Hao and Ms. Jiang, over ten other practitioners who recently had contact with Mr. Hao were also arrested on the same day.
Another insider revealed that the order to arrest Mr. Hao came from Bao Hui, the new head of Pingdu City Police Department. But it’s not clear what led to Bao’s decision to hunt for Mr. Hao.
Facing Prosecution
Mr. Hao was taken to the Pingdu City Detention Center on July 5 and he started a hunger strike on the same day to demand unconditional release.
Li Xiaoan and another officer surnamed Zhong from the Chengguan Police Station took Mr. Hao to the hospital for a physical examination and force-feeding on July 18.
Mr. Hao’s sister was notified by the police and rushed to the hospital to check on him. She was shocked to see that despite Mr. Hao’s weak physical condition, the police still kept him handcuffed and shackled.
As Mr. Hao refused to cooperate with the police in the physical examination, an officer pushed him in front of his sister. Mr. Hao almost fell. His sister also learned that he once vomited blood when the detention center guards tried to force-feed him.
An agent of the Pingdu City 610 Office, who was also at the hospital, said they could give him a lighter prison sentence of three years if he cooperated with them.
Mr. Hao’s arrest was approved on August 2 and his lawyer visited him on August 18.
Mr. Hao’s mother, in her 70s, suffered a comminuted fracture not long ago. Just as she almost regained mobility, Mr. Hao was arrested. She is now very worried about him.
Previous 7.5-year Prison Sentence
Mr. Hao was arrested in March 2011 for talking to people about Falun Gong in Jiulongpo District, Chongqing. The officers who arrested him were actually his colleagues at the Baishiyi Air Force, not civilian police. They said they had no choice but to arrest him. His military supervisor also went to the Baiheling Detention Center trying to persuade him to give up Falun Gong. He said that as long as Mr. Hao renounced his faith, he wouldn’t be sentenced.
Mr. Hao remained firm in his faith and was sentenced to 7.5 years in Yongchuan Prison in 2012. In order to transform him, the prison guards deprived him of sleep, forced him to sit on a small stool motionless all day long, and shocked him with electric batons.
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