(Minghui.org)
Name: Tang YongqiChinese Name: 汤永琪Gender: MaleAge: 73City: YueyangProvince: HunanOccupation: UnknownDate of Death: June 19, 2024Date of Most Recent Arrest: June 3, 2008Most Recent Place of Detention: Hubin Lockup
A 73-year-old resident of Yueyang City, Hunan Province, died at a nursing home on June 19, 2024, after suffering years of persecution for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Mr. Tang Yongqi took up Falun Gong in June 1996 and was twice sentenced to a total of seven years for upholding his faith. He faced frequent harassment after he was last released from prison in 2007. Years of persecution took a toll on his health. He started having seizures in the second half of 2023. He could have an episode anywhere and at anytime, and he collapsed on the ground and foamed at the mouth. Sometimes he had seizures up to five times a day. More than once he hurt his head after falling and bled profusely. He also became incontinent. His family had to check him into a nursing home, where he passed away.
Sentenced to 2 Years Following Arrest in 1999
Mr. Tang went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong in October 1999. He was arrested and taken to the Tiananmen Square Police Station. Hours later, he was moved to a soccer stadium, where thousands of other Falun Gong practitioners from across China were held and surrounded by armed officers.
Around midnight, the police divided the practitioners into groups of 50 and loaded them onto buses to transfer to various detention centers in Beijing. Mr. Tang was taken to the Miyun District Detention Center. The police seized the 3,800 yuan in cash he had, as well as another 400 yuan hidden inside his belt.
One week later, Mr. Tang was taken back to Yueyang. Zhao Zhihu from the Yueyanglou District Police Department threatened to sentence him to prison and issued an arrest warrant for him in a few days. In order to get him released, his son treated the police to dinner and gave them gifts. The local court then gave Mr. Zhao two years of probation and let him go home six months later (around April 2000). The police however took him back into custody on May 13, 2000 and transferred him to a newly built prison one week later. Only then did his son realize the probation sentence was just an empty promise.
Mr. Zhao was forced to do unpaid labor from 4:40 a.m. until midnight (sometimes until 2 a.m.) every day. Three months later, he was moved to the Chishan Prison, where he was held until he was released in July 2001.
Sentenced to 5 Years in 2002
Multiple officers led by captain Li Yongfei from the Yueyanglou District Police Department and instructor Huang from the Nanhu Police Station broke into Mr. Tang’s home on January 30, 2002. They took him and his wife, Ms. Li Yuyang (also a Falun Gong practitioner), to a local detention center. The in-house doctor and vice director Zhou Wanzhong beat him with handcuffs when they saw him doing the Falun Gong exercises. They also kept him handcuffed the entire night.
A team lead surnamed Zhou from the Junshan Police Department interrogated Mr. Tang and threatened to jail him. He was soon sentenced to five years and admitted to the Jinshi Prison in August 2003. He was released on January 30, 2007.
Continued Persecution
Mr. Tang and his wife were arrested on June 3, 2008, by a group of officers who were staked outside their apartment building. They were held at the Hubin Lockup for eight days. The police also raided the couple’s home and confiscated all their Falun Gong books, tape recorder, and MP4 player.
Three plainclothes officers from the Jin’e Police Station came to Mr. Tang’s home at 8 p.m. on August 1, 2017. One of them announced himself as secretary Li and took out his phone to videotape the couple. When they tried to stop him he insisted that he had to take pictures of them; otherwise he would not be able to answer to his higher-ups who ordered him check on the couple to try to make them renounce Falun Gong. Li and the other two officers left after half an hour.
Mr. Tang’s wife received a call from a man surnamed Liu at 2 p.m. on November 8, 2021. He said two supervisors wanted to visit her and her husband. She replied that they were not home, they were shopping. Liu said they were already outside her apartment building. She told him they would not rush back to meet them. He then asked her to wait for him and his supervisors to come back at 8 p.m. that night. The trio never returned.
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