Washington D.C.: Survivor of China’s Forced Organ Harvesting Crimes Recounts Experience at a Press Conference

(Minghui.org) Mr. Cheng Peiming, a Falun Gong practitioner from mainland China, testified at a press conference in Washington D.C. on July 3, 2024, about his experience of detention, torture, and how he became a survivor of China’s state-sanctioned forced organ harvesting crimes against Falun Gong and other prisoners of conscience.

Mr. Cheng Peiming described how he was subjected to detention, torture, and organ harvesting in China.

Mr. Cheng showed the now-healed incision on the left side of his upper body. Elected officials said the forced organ harvesting is very brutal and it must be stopped. They said the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) should be held accountable and all kindhearted people should condemn this reprehensible behavior.

The United States House of Representatives passed the Falun Gong Protection Act (H.R. 4132) on June 25 criticizing the persecution of Falun Gong by the CCP, including its forced organ harvesting crimes. The legislation also called for sanctions against those involved in these acts and urged the CCP to immediately end the suppression.

Mr. Cheng is from Jixi City in Heilongjiang Province and began to practice Falun Gong in March 1998. “After the CCP began suppressing Falun Gong in 1999, I was arrested five times for my belief. In December 2001, for example, I was sentenced to prison with an eight-year term. During that time, I was brutally tortured and had [partial] organs forcibly extracted from my body.”

Mr. Cheng showed the sutured incision on the left side of his upper body during the press conference on July 3.

Forced Organ Harvesting Survivor's Testimony

Mr. Cheng recalled what happened to him on November 16, 2004. “Although I was mentally awake and had no health issues, officials sent me to the Daqing Fourth Hospital at 8 p.m. Guards told my family I was in a life-threatening condition and the probability of death from the surgery would be 80%,” he said.

Mr. Cheng was asked to sign a consent for the surgery, but he refused. Six guards then pressed him down and administered anesthesia. When he regained consciousness on November 19, Mr. Cheng found his right ankle was cuffed to the hospital bed with an intravenous injection in one arm. Both his feet also had injection tubes, and there was an oxygen supply tube in his nose.

After being brought back to Daqing Prison on November 23, Mr. Cheng was taken to the prison clinic on December 2 where a doctor removed the stitches from his wound. Guards then sent him back to the cell on a stretcher. “I coughed every day. My left ribs were painful and numb, and I was unable to get up. Even right now my left arm and ribs still ache, especially on rainy days or when I am tired, and the pain is unbearable,” he said.

One guard surnamed Zhao was at the scene of the surgery and held a gun. He overheard the head nurse say, “I have been a nurse for 30 years. This is the first time I saw an organ transplant.” “After Zhao told an inmate friend about this, the inmates discussed this for about a year. Everyone knew I had an organ transplant surgery,” Mr. Cheng said.

Mr. Cheng described his detention, torture, and organ harvesting in a Chinese prison.

On March 2, 2006, officials suddenly took Mr. Cheng to Longnan Hospital in Daqing. Although he had no health issues, a doctor planned to operate on him anyway. After the guards went to sleep, Mr. Cheng fled the hospital through the fire escape around 2 a.m. on March 3. Police searched the entire city for him. With other practitioners’ help, he fled Heilongjiang Province. The Public Security Ministry then issued a Class B arrest warrant for him and a 50,000 yuan reward to whoever turned him in.

After reading about forced organ harvesting on the Minghui website on March 9, 2006, Mr. Cheng was terrified. “I shivered whenever I recalled my experience in the hospital. For the next two months, I did not dare remove my clothing when sleeping. I came to understand what the ‘organ transplant surgery’ at Daqing Hospital in 2004 meant.”

After fleeing China in 2015, Mr. Cheng received help from the U.S. government and finally arrived in the U.S. in 2020. “After a series of medical examinations, doctors confirmed that part of my liver and lung had been extracted,” said Mr. Cheng. “I came to the U.S. to tell my tragic experience and to expose the CCP’s brutal persecution, especially the crime of forced organ harvesting. I hope more kindhearted people can recognize the CCP’s evil nature, protect me, and urgently end the heinous crime of the CCP’s organ harvesting. Thank you to the U.S. government.”

Former State Department Officials Condemn the Persecution

Sam Brownback, former United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom.

Sam Brownback is a former United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom and he wrote in his statement: “The practice of involuntary forced organ harvesting is absolutely barbaric and must stop! The Chinese Communist Party must be punished for such uncivilized acts. I commend the courage of Mr C [Mr. Cheng] to come forward and speak out.”

Robert Destro, former Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor.

American attorney Robert Destro is a law professor and former Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. He wrote in his statement: “...when I learned of “Mr. C.’s” story, I asked a member of the DRL staff assigned to our Office for East Asia-Pacific Affairs to investigate the claims made on his behalf, and to inquire into his circumstances.”

Destro wrote, “Based on the information provided, including pictures, I determined that the case warranted further investigation and set in motion the process through which he came to the United States for examination and further investigation.”

He wrote in his statement: “Forced organ harvesting is a horrific form of human trafficking.” “There is also ample documentation that it occurs, with state sponsorship and encouragement, in the People’s Republic of China. All persons of goodwill should condemn the practice.”

U.S. Senator: Immediately Release Detained Falun Gong Practitioners

Bob Menendez, U.S. Senator from New Jersey, also made a statement to condemn the persecution in China.

U.S. Senator Bob Menendez

He wrote in his statement: “Falun Gong, a Chinese spiritual discipline is based upon universal principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance.

“For over two decades, the People’s Republic of China has undertaken a ruthless and brutal crackdown against the followers of the Falun Gong spiritual movement that continues to this day. Tens of thousands of Chinese citizens have been persecuted for their religious beliefs, imprisoned, tortured, subjected to forced labor, and credible allegations of organ harvesting.”

He said that the Chinese Communist Party ordered an intensive and unforgiving campaign against Falun Gong practitioners for refusing to recant their practice.

He wrote: “Alongside the international community, I reaffirm my call on Beijing to respect the religious beliefs and practices of all its citizens, including China’s Falun Gong practitioners. No one should have to face prison, torture, or worse, simply for how they choose to practice their religion. China should immediately release all Falun Gong practitioners it has wrongfully detained, and allow them to practice their faith with dignity and respect.”