(Minghui.org)
Name: Jiang HongluChinese Name: 姜洪禄Gender: MaleAge: 66City: MishanProvince: HeilongjiangOccupation: Highway maintenance workerDate of Death: January 27, 2024Date of Most Recent Arrest: September 23, 2015Most Recent Place of Detention: Mudanjiang Prison
A 66-year-old man in Mishan City, Heilongjiang Province, died at a senior center on January 27, 2024, two weeks before the Chinese New Year. Mr. Jiang Honglu’s death came six years after his wife, Ms. Yuan Shuzhi, passed away on April 4, 2018, at the age of 60.
The couple’s lives were both claimed by the Chinese Communist Party’s persecution of Falun Gong, a mind-body practice based on the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Mr. Jiang, Ms. Yuan, and their son all credited Falun Gong for restoring their health, but they were repeatedly targeted for upholding their faith and sustained irreparable physical and mental damage.
Mr. Jiang, who used to work at the Mishan City Highway Administration, was given one year and three months of forced labor in December 1999. When he talked to people about Falun Gong in 2002, an officer chased him, shot him in the leg, and kicked his head. He was later sentenced to 14 years and became paralyzed in both legs as a result of being tortured in prison. He was unable to speak coherently, had poor memory, and suffered from a prostate condition. In his final years, he required a nasal feeding tube.
His wife Ms. Yuan was also repeatedly arrested and tortured. The mental pressure from the persecution took a toll on her health. She developed diabetes and had severe swelling in her legs, which eventually resulted in both legs being amputated. Her condition continued to deteriorate after the operation, and she passed away on April 4, 2018, shortly after she turned 60.
The couple’s son, around 39, was traumatized by the persecution of his parents over the years. He became withdrawn and refused to socialize. He stayed in his room most of the time.
Mr. Jiang, Ms. Yuan, and their son went to Beijing on July 22, 1999, to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong. They were arrested and taken back to Mishan. At the police station, officers Meng Qingqi and Du Yongshan ordered them to sign statements to renounce Falun Gong. When they refused to comply, the officers signed on their behalf.
Meng and dozen officers broke into the family’s home on October 6, 1999, and confiscated their Falun Gong books, media players, and Falun Gong teaching lecture tapes. Mr. Jiang and Ms. Yuan were taken to the police station for interrogation and then to the local detention center. After detaining them for one month, the police extorted 12,000 yuan from the couple and released them.
Mr. Jiang returned to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong on December 3, 1999. He was arrested and taken to the Mishan City Detention Center on December 18. Officer Du whipped him with a leather belt. After 13 days in the detention center, he was given three years in the Jixi Forced Labor Camp. The guards there beat him with a baton and kicked him. He was released on March 25, 2001.
Mr. Jiang was out talking to people about Falun Gong on February 12, 2002, when officer Meng shot him in the leg. The bullet fractured his lower left leg. After he fell, Meng and Du kicked him in the head. He fainted and his eyes protruded.
Fearing that Mr. Jiang might die from excessive bleeding, the police took him to the hospital. They handcuffed him to a bed and had the doctor push his eyeballs back in place. He wasn’t given any other treatment, and his family wasn’t allowed to see him.
The police covered his head with a blanket, with him lying on a mattress, and drove him (and the mattress) to the detention center (since he could not stand). As they drove out of the hospital gate, somebody asked, “What happened to him?” An officer said, “He caught a cold.”
Officers Meng and Du interrogated Mr. Jiang several times at the detention center. They whipped him with a leather belt and force-fed him wasabi oil through a nasogastric tube. It took nine months for Mr. Jiang to recover and be able to take care of himself again.
The Mishan Court tried Mr. Jiang on October 23, 2002, and sentenced him to 14 years.
The guards at Mudanjiang Prison held Mr. Jiang in solitary confinement for two weeks because he refused to renounce Falun Gong. When he was let out, he had difficulty keeping his balance.
By June 6, 2008, Mr. Jiang had lost the ability to talk due to the abuse. In a new persecution campaign in October 2009 when the prison ordered each ward to “transform” at least 75% of incarcerated Falun Gong practitioners, the inmates deprived Mr. Jiang of sleep, but he still refused to give in.
Mr. Jiang applied for medical parole on May 1, 2010, and was released on August 10, 2010.
A local justice bureau official contacted Mr. Jiang in September 2013 and ordered him to get a physical exam. They threatened to take him back to prison if he didn’t get a the physical after three notifications. That same month, the village head also tried to force Ms. Yuan to sign a statement to renounce Falun Gong, but she refused to comply.
Mr. Jiang was arrested again on September 23, 2015, and taken back to Mudanjiang Prison on October 13. He was released on February 11, 2016, after he finished serving his term.
The mental pressure from the persecution took a toll on Ms. Yuan’s health. She developed diabetes and had severe swellings in her legs, which eventually resulted in the amputation of both legs. Her condition continued to deteriorate after the operation. She passed away on April 4, 2018, shortly after her 60th birthday.
Weeks before the Chinese Communist Party’s 20th Congress held between October 16 and 22, 2022, the authorities harassed local Falun Gong practitioners on their blacklists, in an attempt to prevent the practitioners from raising awareness about the persecution of their faith.
Mr. Jiang and his late wife Ms. Yuan were both on the list, because the police were not aware of Ms. Yuan’s passing in 2018. When they couldn’t find her, they called her relatives and were told she’d died.
The police then asked the family where Mr. Jiang was so that they could photograph him. The family told them that Mr. Jiang had become incapacitated and was living in a senior center. They said he was paralyzed in both legs, unable to speak coherently, had poor memory, and suffered from a prostate condition. He never recovered and died in January 2024.
Man Incapacitated by Persecution Now Harassed Ahead of 20th Chinese Communist Party Congress