(Minghui.org) A Xiangyang City, Hubei Province resident has been subjected to ongoing abuse while serving a 12-year term for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Mr. Cheng Xiaobao, 67, went missing in March 2018. The authorities kept his family in the dark of his case status. It wasn’t until May 2020 that his family learned that he had been secretly sentenced to 12 years in prison. They still don’t know when he was indicted by which procuratorate or sentenced by which court.

According to an insider, Mr. Cheng is currently held at the fifth ward in Fanjiatai Prison. Because he refused to renounce Falun Gong, wear the inmate’s tag or do the unpaid labor, the guards often starved him, deprived him of sleep, forced him to stand for long hours and didn’t allow him to talk to others.

Mr. Cheng, a former employee of the water and electricity department of the Xiangfan Railway Bureau, took up Falun Gong in 1998. His many ailments, including hepatitis B, cholecystitis, and a herniated disc disappeared in less than ten days. Striving to follow Falun Gong’s principles to be a better person, he offered free plumbing services to many families with financial difficulties in his spare time and won respect from his coworkers.

Because Mr. Cheng refused to give up his faith when the persecution started in 1999, he was fired from his job and repeatedly harassed, arrested, and detained. He was brutally tortured while serving a four-year prison term (2001-2005) and a one-year labor camp term (2008-2009).

Forced to Attend Two Back-to-back Brainwashing Sessions in 2020

Shortly after the onset of the persecution, Zhang Zhaobin, the Party secretary of Mr. Cheng’s workplace, and its director Cai Lianxi said to him, “You are doing very well with your job. But because of your practicing Falun Gong, we have to pay a fine of 200,000 yuan each year. As long as you stop practicing it, we are willing to cover all your medical expenses should you suffer relapse of your old illnesses [that had been cured by practicing Falun Gong].” Mr. Cheng didn’t comply.

Mr. Cheng went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong in June 2000. He was arrested and detained at the Xiangyang City Railroad Detention Center. In mid-July 2000, Tian Guangfu, the deputy head of Xiangyang City Railroad Police Department, personally instructed the detention center guards and inmates to torture Mr. Cheng. His body was covered with bruises and his legs were severely swollen. The guards also handcuffed him behind his back and hit his head against the wall.

Mr. Cheng was transferred to a brainwashing session in early August 2000. Officer Wang of the Zhongyuan Road Police Station beat and kicked him on the first night because he refused to renounce Falun Gong. About 80 practitioners were held there during that time. Xie Xiaowu, the political director of the Xiangyang City Police Department, was in charge of the brainwashing session.

Mr. Cheng was transferred to another brainwashing session on December 9, 2000. Because he still refused to renounce Falun Gong a month later, the police took him to the detention center on January 12, 2001. An inmate named Li Jiabing beat him so hard that his lower incisor was knocked out.

Sentenced to Four Years

Mr. Cheng was arrested again in March 2001 for distributing Falun Gong materials. Officer Gao Yuan of the Xiangyang Railroad Police Department interrogated him, handcuffed him to a chair and beat him.

For talking to people about Falun Gong, Mr. Cheng was arrested another time on June 21, 2001. He was first held at the Xiangyang Railroad Detention Center for six days and then taken to the Migong Police Station. Three days later, the police transferred him to the Xiangyang City First Detention Center. He held a hunger strike to protest and was force-fed. Director Gong of the Xiangyang City 610 Office and staffers of the Fancheng District Procuratorate attempted to force him to admit guilt in practicing Falun Gong, but he refused to comply. The Fancheng District Court sentenced him to four years in August 2002.

Mr. Cheng was transferred to the Fanjiatai Prison on August 21, 2002. Xiao Tianbo, the director of the fourth ward, instigated inmates Ma Jiayuan and Li Yuxing to torture him on the first night. From the fourth day on, they only allowed him to sleep for three hours every night, from 2 a.m. to 5 a.m. When he still remained firm in his faith, Xiao sent him to the hospital, with the excuse that he had tuberculosis. He was forced to receive injections and IV drips. The inmates continued to torture him in the hospital during his three-week stay there, including forcing him to stand facing the wall, depriving him of sleep, beating him and hitting his head against the wall. The doctor turned a blind eye to the torture. Because of Ma’s active participation in torturing Mr. Cheng, he received a term reduction of one year.

Mr. Cheng was beaten by inmates Fan Yaoping on August 21, 2004. When another practitioner in the same cell, Mr. Zhu Dahua, tried to stop Fan, Xiao called inmates Cao Wenbin, Tian Xiangyang, Zhu Shengwen, Zhou Zigan and Fan to drag Mr. Cheng to the brickyard. They forced him to run laps while beating him.

Without allowing him to have lunch, the guards and inmates dragged Mr. Cheng to the brick kiln in the afternoon when it was over 104°F outside. Then they forced him to run around the brickyard again. After that, they took him back to the kiln. The inmates repeated the torture until they became exhausted themselves. While on the verge of death, Mr. Cheng’s ankle was run over by a loaded wagon. To cover up the torture, the guards isolated Mr. Cheng and didn’t allow others to see his injuries.

Mr. Cheng held a hunger strike to protest the persecution in September 2004. Only then did the guards take him to the hospital for treatment. He recounted the torture to Liu Moyang, the prison’s political instructor. Yet Liu responded, “What you said can’t be true.”

Mr. Cheng held another hunger strike in February 2005, around the Chinese New Year. The guards took him to the prison hospital for force-feeding and tied him in a spread eagle position in the bed for five days.

Torture reenactment: tied up in a spread eagle position

One Year of Forced Labor

Mr. Cheng was arrested by officers of the Pingxiangmen Police Station for doing Falun Gong exercises outdoors with other practitioners on September 22, 2008. The police used tear gas during the group arrest.

Mr. Cheng was held at the Xiangyang City Administrative Lockup for six days and later given one year at the Shayang Forced Labor Camp. He was held in solitary confinement, forced to squat and beaten.

In early October 2008, inmates Xiang Wei and Huang Degang were instigated by guard Liu Guodong to deprive Mr. Cheng of sleep. They also kicked him during the squatting torture, which caused him to limp for several months.

Mr. Cheng was held in solitary confinement by guard Sun Bo between March and June 2009, for talking to other inmates about Falun Gong. Inmate Xiang also kicked him in the chest when he refused to report to him before using the restroom.

Mr. Cheng was subjected to another round of torture in July 2009 after he refused to sign a form slandering Falun Gong. He was forced to squat for long hours each day without moving or changing positions. The inmates beat him as soon as he moved a little. When his term expired, the guards detained him for five more days before releasing him.

Three More Arrests

Mr. Cheng was arrested another time on September 21, 2012 for talking to people about Falun Gong in Yushan Town. The police gave him another labor camp term, but the labor camp refused to admit him due to his poor health. He was thus released.

While traveling to Sichuan Province to visit his mother on December 24, 2013, Mr. Cheng was arrested at the Xiangyang Train Station when security found Falun Gong materials in his luggage. Gao Yuan, the head of the Xiangyang Railroad Domestic Security Division, led a group of officers to ransack his home and also detain him for five days.

Mr. Cheng was arrested one more time on September 17, 2015 and held in a lockup.

Related Reports:

Two Hubei Residents Secretly Arrested and Sentenced to Heavy Terms

Falun Gong Practitioners Persecuted by the Wuhan Railroad Bureau

Nine Years of Persecution Endured by Practitioner Cheng Xiaobao from Xiangfan City, Hubei Province

Criminals in Shayang Forced Labor Camp Ordered to Beat Falun Gong Practitioners