(Minghui.org) After his son became disfigured after a barbarous torture session and was almost cremated alive in 2004 for his faith in Falun Gong, Mr. Lei Yuanjun, a farmer in Jiahe County, Chenzhou City, Hunan Province, has spent the past decade seeking justice and demanding state compensation. Despite his unwavering efforts, he still hasn’t received any response. Mr. Lei has vowed to continue fighting. 

Early Arrests and Torture

The son, Mr. Lei Jingxiong, 44, was targeted after the Chinese Communist Party ordered the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999. While still a college student, he was arrested in 2000 and held in the Jiahe County Detention Center. After he held a hunger strike to protest, He Tushi, the detention center’s deputy director and doctor, ordered several guards to pry open his mouth and force-feed him saline water. 

Mr. Lei’s esophagus, tongue, and gums were severely injured and his lips were extremely swollen, rendering him unable to talk or eat for a month. After 29 days at the detention center, he was released, but not before he was ordered to pay the local police department 4,000 yuan, the 610 Office 3,000 yuan, and an individual police officer 3,000 yuan. As his family couldn’t afford the payment, his uncle paid the money for him. 

The younger Mr. Lei set off for Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong in 2001. He walked 33 days to get to Beijing, only to be arrested and taken back to Changsha, the capital of Hunan. He served six months at the Xinkaipu Forced Labor Camp and was then transferred to the Jiahe County Detention Center, where he was held for another six months. 

In 2002, Mr. Lei moved to Beijing for a job opportunity. Agents from the Jiahe County 610 Office followed him down to Beijing and forcibly took him back, despite strong opposition from his manager at work. The agents arranged a teaching job for him but arrested him five days after he started the new job. 

To avoid further persecution, Mr. Lei was forced to live away from home in 2003. The authorities arrested his father and two brothers-in-law and interrogated them as to Mr. Lei’s whereabouts. 

The police said to Mr. Lei’s father that while in custody, his son taught Falun Gong to many “disciples” and many people suffered mental breakdowns as a result. The father responded, “The story you made up is absolutely ridiculous. My son is a good person and lives by the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. I have complete faith in him and he has my full support to practice Falun Gong.”

Almost Cremated Alive

After living a year in displacement, Mr. Lei was arrested at a train station in Changsha on August 18, 2004, by officers from the Tianxin District Domestic Security Division.

The police beat him, severely injuring his head, face, and body. When he lost consciousness after the beating, the police thought he was dead and took him to a funeral home. Just as he was about to be cremated, a female officer noticed a slight movement in Mr. Lei. While the male officers tried to insist on going through with the cremation, the female officer managed to stop them. They then took him to the Changsha City Central Hospital for treatment. 

Due to intracranial hemorrhage, Mr. Lei lost memory of the beating. His left eye protruded slightly and he lost hearing in his left ear. All of his teeth were loosened, his chin was shattered, and the flesh on his face was so lacerated that his cheek bones were exposed. The doctors had to cut open his throat so that they could feed him through the opening. The doctors also used a metal cast to immobilize his face for 40 days.

While he survived the incident, Mr. Lei’s face was severely disfigured – his left eye was swollen, and his chin and face were slanted to one side. 

Mr. Lei Jingxiong before the persecution

Mr. Lei after he became disfigured from a police beating

Sentenced to Eight Years

As Mr. Lei was unable to find a job on his own, a relative helped him secure a job in Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province. However, he was arrested at the airport on June 18, 2009, when he was about to board a flight from Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province to Hangzhou. 

In July 2009, Mr. Lei’s family received notice of his arrest, with no signature, from the Xishui County Police Department in Guizhou Province. They also learned that he had been taken to the Xishui County Detention Center on June 28 by the Guangdong police. It is unclear why Guizhou Province was involved when his home province was Hunan, and why he was arrested in Guangdong Province, when he was heading to Zhejiang Province.

After a few months of not gettings any updates about his case, the family was notified by the Duyun Prison in Guizhou Province sometime in 2010 that Mr. Lei had been admitted there on January 14, 2010 to serve an eight-year term. 

His father, Mr. Lei Yuanjun, was shocked to learn from the local Jiahe County government officials that the authorities in Xishui sentenced his son for “theft.” He was outraged. He said that the authorities in Guizhou Province failed to disclose the name of the prosecutor or inform the family of the timing and location of his trial; the family wasn’t provided a copy of his indictment and didn’t know whether he had legal representation; and in terms of the theft charge, there was no information about what he stole and when and where the incident took place. The father said that his son had always been an honest and kind person since childhood, and it’s unbelievable that the authorities framed him with this charge. 

The elder Mr. Lei filed many complaints with various government agencies and the State Department, demanding his son’s release, but no one ever responded. 

Tortured in Prison

In early December 2010, the Duyun Prison called Mr. Lei Jingxiong’s family, saying that he’d fallen into a coma and was being resuscitated at the hospital after a blood vessel in his brain ruptured. While the prison ordered the family to take him home, they walked back their decision when the family rushed to the hospital. They even barred the family from visiting Mr. Lei. 

In 2011, Mr. Lei was in critical condition due to the abuse in custody and was released on medical parole. 

On February 15, 2015, he was taken back into custody at the Guiyang Prison in Guiyang County, Hunan Province, as the police claimed that he was no longer qualified for medical parole. He was transferred to the Wangling Prison in the same province and held there until October 22, 2015. 

Father’s Uphill Battle Seeking Justice

Over the years, Mr. Lei’s father has worked tirelessly to seek justice for his son. Between 2011 and 2018, he made six trips to Changsha and Beijing each, in order to apply for state compensation. 

Instead of seeing the case being addressed, the elder Lei was arrested by Jiahe County Police Department officers on December 8, 2014 and detained for five days. He was arrested again on March 28, 2018 after returning from a trip to Beijing and detained for ten days. 

On December 2, 2024, Mr. Lei mailed another request for state compensation to the Tianxin District Police Department and the Tianxin District Court, accusing the former of torturing his son and causing him to become severely disfigured. The judge accepted the case, but hasn’t responded so far. 

The father said he will never give up seeking justice for his son.

Related Reports:

Falun Gong Practitioner Lei Jingxiong's Life in Imminent Danger

Mr. Lei Jingxiong, Who Was Almost Cremated Alive, Is Arrested Again

Mr. Lei Jingxiong and Ms. Wu Shengying Severely Persecuted in Duyun Prison of Guizhou Province

Father of Mr. Lei Jingxiong Appeals for His Son's Innocence