Crimes of He Rong, Party Secretary and Minister of the Ministry of Justice, in Persecuting Falun Gong

(Minghui.org) On the 25th anniversary since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began to suppress Falun Gong in July 1999, practitioners from 44 countries submitted a new list of perpetrators to their respective governments, asking them to bar the perpetrators and their family members from entry and freeze their overseas assets according to the law.

Among the perpetrators listed was He Rong, Party secretary and minister of the Ministry of Justice.

Perpetrator Information

Full Name of Perpetrator: He (last name) Rong (first name) Chinese Name: 贺荣Gender: FemaleDate/year of Birth: October 1962Place of Birth: Linyi County, Shandong Province

Title or Position

February 2023 – Present: Party secretary and minister of the Ministry of Justice, member of the Central Commission for Comprehensive Law-based Governance and Deputy Director of the Office, member of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, member of the 19th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China, representative of the 19th National Congress, and representative of the 13th National People’s Congress.

April 2020 – February 2023: deputy secretary of the Party Leadership Group of the Supreme People’s Court, vice president, and member of the Judicial Committee.

March 2018 – April 2020: deputy secretary of the Shaanxi Provincial Party Committee, principal of the Provincial Party School.

October 2013 – March 2017: vice president, Party Leadership Group member, and Judicial Committee member of the Supreme People’s Court.

December 2011– September 2013: deputy director of the Judicial Committee of the Supreme People’s Court.

May 2007 – February 2010: president and Party secretary of Beijing Second Intermediate People’s Court.

July 2001 – May 2007: Vice President and Party Leadership Group member of Beijing Higher People’s Court.

Main Crimes

1) Persecution During He’s Tenure as the Minister of Justice 

After He became Minister of Justice in February 2023, she continued to implement the persecution policy against Falun Gong practitioners. In just over a year (February 2023 to April 2024), at least thirteen practitioners died in custody, including Mr. Liu Dianyuan, Ms. Li Fenglan, Ms. Li Yuzhen, Mr. Wang Haiqian, Mr. Wang Zizhou, Mr. Ma Changqing, Ms. Lyu Houfen, Ms. Xia Juying, Mr. Wang Jian, Ms. Mou Yongxia, Ms. Xu Haihong, and Ms. Teng Shuli. Numerous practitioners became disabled, injured, or driven to mental breakdowns. Some were separated from their families and forced to live away from home to avoid persecution. 

Below are select death cases.

Case 1: Family Suspects Foul Play in 72-year-old Man’s Sudden Death in Jidong Prison

Mr. Wang Jian, a resident of Zunhua City, Hebei Province, was arrested at home on July 6, 2019, and later sentenced to seven years in prison with a 5,000-yuan fine. He appeared to be fine and in good spirits when his family visited him on March 19, 2023. However, the family received a surprise phone call from the prison on April 3, 2023, with the news of his death. He was 72 years old.

Mr. Wang had large areas of deep bruises around his ears and on his back, as well as some bruises on the back of his right hand. There was a circular mark on his chest and some scratches on his back. When the coroner turned his body over, fluid came out of his left ear.

The prison claimed that Mr. Wang had died suddenly of a disease, but without specifying the disease. To the family, the bruises on Mr. Wang’s head and back seemed unusual, and not caused by a normal disease. They asked if they were caused by torture or other mistreatment that the prison was trying to hide.

Case 2: 75-Year-Old Retired Teacher Dies in Heilongjiang Province Women’s Prison

Ms. Mou Yongxia, a 75-year-old retired teacher, died from ongoing abuse at the Heilongjiang Province Women’s Prison on July 13, 2023. The guards arbitrarily cremated Ms. Mou’s body before notifying her family.

Ms. Mou was arrested in September 2019 and sentenced to a six-year prison term by the Ranghulu District Court in May 2020. Guards at the Heilongjiang Province Women’s Prison instigated the inmates to beat and verbally abuse her. Years of torture and abuse took a toll on her health and she could barely move.

After Ms. Mou suffered fecal incontinence in August 2022, an inmate beat her and poured cold water on her. She also subsequently suffered a mental disorder, yet the guards and other inmates continued to beat her routinely.

In late December 2022, a prisoner complained that Ms. Mou walked too slowly and roughly pushed her from behind. Ms. Mou fell to the ground resulting in bruises to her face. That night she developed frequent urination, and she had to get up over ten times each subsequent night. The inmates assigned to watch her often verbally abused her and beat her because of this.

Ms. Mou often woke up in the middle of night screaming because of the ongoing abuse. It was so loud that inmates in other cells could hear her. She was disoriented and could not even recognize other Falun Gong practitioners who were staying in the same cell with her.

Her son demanded that the prison authorities release Ms. Mou on medical parole, but his requests were repeatedly denied.

Case 3: Sichuan Man with Metastatic Cancer Denied Parole, Dies Weeks After Prison Hospital Discharged Him on Verge of Death

Mr. Wang Haiqian, a former middle school teacher of Dazhu County, Sichuan Province, was diagnosed with colon cancer in January 2023, while serving 7.5 years for his faith in Falun Gong. The prison authorities notified his family to apply for medical parole for him, but they intentionally delayed the approval process and didn’t release him until around September 2023 when his cancer had metastasized. He died one month later. He was 60 years old.

The brutal torture in Jiazhou Prison contributed to Mr. Wang developing cancer. He was forced to squat every day for half a month, during which time he was not allowed to sleep or use the restroom. He was given very little food to eat and had to finish the meal in seconds, which meant he was often unable to even finish the meager amount of food.

At one point, Mr. Wang was held in Ward Ten, which was used to hold steadfast practitioners. Dubbed “a prison within a prison,” practitioners are subjected to even more cruel torture here, including wearing a straitjacket, force-feeding with chili water, putting a cotton hat or a metal helmet on practitioners’ heads over the summer, having them stand under the scorching sun, and placing them in solitary confinement.

Case 4: 70-Year-Old Man Dies While Serving Time for His Faith, Family Suspects Foul Play

Mr. Ma Changqing, a 70-year-old resident of Yushu City, Jilin Province, was arrested around August 10, 2022, when the police saw him putting up a poster through the surveillance camera. He was taken to a detention center facility in nearby Changchun City that day. His daughter, who struggles with epilepsy and can't care for herself, was taken to a senior center. The Dehui City Court sentenced him to four years sometime in 2023.

The guards at the Jilin City Prison lied to Mr. Ma’s sister-in-law on September 18, 2023, telling her that they were taking him to the hospital for an operation for his small intestinal hernia. But hours later, the prison called again and said Mr. Ma had died. Because the prison refused to provide any details about Mr. Ma’s death, his sister-in-law suspected that the prison was trying to hide the true cause of his death, as a hernia usually isn’t a life-threatening condition. She worried that he’d been tortured to death in prison because he refused to renounce his faith in Falun Gong.

Case 5: 69-Year-Old Gansu Woman Dies Weeks After Being Released from Prison on Verge of Death

Ms. Li Fenglan, a Baiyin City, Gansu Province resident, was repeatedly denied medical parole despite her metastatic breast cancer while serving time for her faith in Falun Gong. By the time she was finally released in December 2023, it was too late to treat her condition. She died weeks later, on January 10, 2024, at the age of 69.

Ms. Li was already cancer-stricken when she was admitted to the Gansu Province Women’s Prison on February 27, 2023, to serve a term of one year and eight months. The prison guards took her to a hospital for chemotherapy, but her cancer still metastasized.

Ms. Li’s husband and the prison both requested that she be released on medical parole, but the police in charge of her case rejected them on the grounds that she had already been granted parole once back in 2019. They insisted that no more paroles would be allowed for her.

In December 2023, ten months after Ms. Li’s prison admission, her family hired a lawyer to fight her parole denial. The lawyer managed to get the local chapter of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) to pressure the police to approve the parole request. The CPPCC representative picked Ms. Li up from the prison but had to take her straight to a hospital, as she was on the verge of death and could no longer eat or drink. The hospital said it was too late to treat her and could only give her IV drips to sustain her life. Her husband then decided to take her home. She died shortly after, on the morning of January 10, 2024.

2) Persecution During He’s Tenure as the Vice President of the Supreme People’s Court Since April 2020

2.1. Sentencing in 2020

From May 2020 to December 2020, 509 practitioners were sentenced. Ms. Sun Qian, a Canadian citizen and a health technology company executive, was arrested at her home in Beijing in 2017. The Chaoyang District Court sentenced her to 8 years in prison on June 30, 2020. In addition to preventing Sun from hiring lawyers, the authorities also pressured her lawyers to withdraw from the case. 

Ms. Mao Kun, 57, from Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, was arrested at her home together with five Falun Gong practitioners who were visiting on the afternoon of July 10, 2019. The police beat her and broke her arm. She was sentenced to 11 years and six months in prison on December 28, 2020. While she was still waiting for the result of her appeal, she was rushed to the hospital for resuscitation on April 9, 2021. She died in the hospital on the evening of April 11, 2021.

Mr. Pang Xun, a former host for the Sichuan Province People’s Radio Station, was arrested in July 2020 and later sentenced to five years in prison. The 30-year-old man was tortured to death on December 2, 2022, only six months after he was admitted to Jiazhou Prison. In the photos taken after Mr. Pang’s death, his body is seen covered with bruises, as well as marks from electric shocks and being tied up tightly with ropes. There was blood in his mouth. He had also become incontinent due to the torture.

The late Mr. Pang Xun, a former radio host.

On August 11, 2020, the Wancheng District Court of Nanyang City tried 27 practitioners. The judge appointed lawyers to enter guilty pleas for the practitioners. The judge sentenced them to up to 13 years on December 30, 2020, with a total fine of nearly half a million yuan.

Twelve practitioners were secretly sentenced by the Zunhua City Court on November 27, 2020. Among them, Ms. Wang Ruiling, 68, was sentenced to eight years; Ms. Zhang Yuming, 65, was sentenced to seven years; Mr. Wang Jian, 70, was sentenced to seven years; Mr. Zhang Qin, 78, was sentenced to four years and six months; Ms. Tian Shuxue, 82, was sentenced to five years and six months; and Mr. Ma Kuo, 68, was sentenced to five years.

2.2. Sentencing in 2021

A total of 1,184 sentencing cases were reported in 2021. The practitioners hailed from 27 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities. Forty-four of them were sentenced to nine years or longer, with the longest term being fourteen years. A married couple and their daughter in Tianjin were sentenced together. Mr. Li Guoqing, a general manager at the local power company, was given 12 years. His wife Ms. Yu Bo and their daughter Ms. Li Lei received 10 and 7 years, respectively.

Among the 430 practitioners whose ages were known at the time of their sentencing, 32 were in their 80s, 122 were in their 70s, 122 were in their 60s, 102 were in their 50s, 41 were in their 40s, 9 were in their 30s, and 1 in his 20s, and the youngest at age 19. A total of 448 practitioners were subjected to court fines or police extortion totaling over 6 million yuan, averaging 14,860 yuan for each person.

The sentencing in 2021 led to the deaths of four practitioners, including an 80-year-old grandfather, a 55-year-old mother and a 65-year-old father.

When Mr. Li Xiyong’s family went to the prison to pick him up on April 9, 2021, they were devastated to learn that the 80-year-old man, who just finished serving three years, was taken away by police. The Dalian City, Liaoning Province, resident, was sentenced to another four years four months later and developed diabetes and fluid accumulation in his chest. The authorities handcuffed and shackled him to the hospital bed while he received medical treatment.

Mr. Liu developed another serious medical condition on December 9. He was in a wheelchair which was placed inside a metal cage in the back of the van while he was taken to the hospital. His family was surprised to see that Mr. Liu’s face, hands, and feet were all swollen. He appeared to be incapacitated and was unable to talk clearly. When his granddaughter tried to adjust his face mask, the guards intimidated her and didn’t allow the family to get close.

The guards demanded that Mr. Liu’s family pay all his medical expenses. They claimed he was in poor health prior to being arrested and said they bore no responsibility for his condition. His family’s repeated requests for medical parole were also denied.

Mr. Liu passed away at the hospital on December 29. The prison staff did not allow his son to take his body. They took it to a funeral home themselves, fearing that his family would file a complaint against them. The police guarded his body until it was cremated on January 1.

Ms. Fu Guihua, of Changchun City, Jilin Province, passed away two months after she was admitted to prison to serve a 7.5-year term. The authorities refused to let her family see her body and moved it to a funeral home without notifying them. They continued to block her family from seeing her unless a prison guard was present. Despite her family’s repeated requests to investigate her death, the prison officials pressured them to cremate the body as soon as possible.

Ms. Fu was arrested on August 15, 2019, along with her husband, her older daughter, her two sons-in-law, and their respective parents for their faith in Falun Gong. Her younger daughter was spared since she had a three-month-old baby. While Ms. Fu’s husband and her younger daughter’s mother-in-law were released after being detained for 15 days, the rest of them were sentenced to 7 or 7.5 years in prison in February 2021.

Ms. Fu and her older daughter were taken to Jilin Province Women’s Prison on May 27, 2021. They were held in the 8th ward, where they were strictly managed. They were forced to sit on small stools for long hours every day and denied visits from their lawyers and family members.

2.3. Sentencing in 2022

A total of 633 cases of Falun Gong practitioners being sentenced for their faith were recorded in 2022. The 633 sentenced practitioners are from 28 provinces and regions. Shandong reported the highest number, at 107, followed by Liaoning (83) and Guangdong (59). Fourteen regions had cases numbering in the two digits and the remaining eleven regions had cases in the single digits. 

The practitioners’ prison terms ranged from six months to fifteen years, with an average of three years and two months. In particular, Ms. Niu Xiaona, a disabled woman from Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province, was given 15 years despite her physical condition. Mr. Wu Chengshou from Shandong was given 11 years and fined 100,000 yuan. Mr. Zhao Tianhua, the owner of a private school in Guangdong, was sentenced to 7 years and fined 500,000 yuan. Another 251 practitioners were fined a total of 2,749,500 yuan. 

Among the 320 sentenced practitioners whose ages are known, ages range from 26 to 86 at the time of sentencing, including 25 practitioners in their 80s. When sentencing an 84-year-old woman to 1.5 years in prison, the judge in charge of her case changed her age to 75 [to justify the conviction] and claimed that “75 was 80.” 

On July 25, 2022, the Rencheng District Court of Jining City, Shandong Province sentenced 15 Falun Gong practitioners. Among them, Ms. Mi Jinying was sentenced to seven years with a fine of 10,000 yuan. More than ten other practitioners were given sentences ranging from two-and-a-half to five years. Most of the sentenced practitioners were over 60 years old, with the oldest being in his 80s. 

In 2022, 17 practitioners were tortured to death in custody, including Mr. Liu Xiyong, Mr. Wang Xueming, Mr. Ge Zhenhua, Mr. Wang Qingwen, Mr. Yang Zhixiong, Mr. Luo Baojun, Mr. Jia Chunzhen, Ms. Zhong Shujuan, Mr. Yin Guozhi, Mr. Teng Yuguo, Ms. Qing Liju, Mr. Zhong Guoquan, Mr. Han Junde, Mr. Niu Xuedong, Mr. Shi Jianwei, Mr. Bai Xingguo, and Ms. Tang Changjun.

Ms. Liu Hongxia, a 47-year-old Dalian City, Liaoning Province, resident, was arrested on October 28, 2021, for putting up posters about Falun Gong. She started a hunger strike on February 14, 2022, to protest the persecution. She was later moved to Xinhua Hospital, where she was tied to a bed, force-fed, and injected with unknown drugs. She was denied all visits, including by her lawyer and family.

Judge Guo Danhua of the Ganjingzi District Court sentenced her to four years on July 13, six days after she was taken back to the detention center. When her lawyer was finally given a pass to visit her after the trial, she couldn’t remember her hospital stay but did know that she was force-fed and given the injection. Her lawyer appealed the case for her, but the higher court ruled in October to uphold the original verdict.

Ms. Liu was admitted to Xinhua Hospital again in late August and was moved to an intensive care unit in late October. The doctors issued a critical condition notice for her. Her family applied for medical parole for her on October 25, but the court and the detention center denied it.

Ms. Liu was extremely weak when her family was allowed to visit her on October 29. She began to bleed from her mouth and nose on November 4. Thinking that she would die in a few days, the doctor asked her family to bring her child to see her for the last time. The visit was monitored by a police officer. Ms. Liu passed away on the morning of November 8.