From March 14 to April 12, 2021, in less than a month, at least five mainland Chinese Falun Gong practitioners were directly persecuted to death in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s prisons, detention centers, and other places of detention.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual practice rooted in the Buddhist tradition, that attracted 70–100 million adherents by the late 1990s. Practitioners come from all walks of life, from the central government to ordinary families.
Fearing its immense popularity, on July 20, 1999, then-Party leader Jiang Zemin launched a campaign to suppress Falun Gong, and since then, Falun Gong practitioners across the country have lost their freedom of belief to practice the peaceful exercises in the country. Millions of innocent people in China have been fired from their jobs, expelled from school, jailed, tortured, or killed simply for practicing Falun Gong. They are brainwashed, tortured, and even killed for their organs, according to Falun Dafa InfoCenter.
Lu Guanru
According to a report from Minghui, on April 4, 2021, Falun Gong practitioner Lu Guanru died of a hemorrhagic stroke after being persecuted in Tai Lai Prison in Daqing, Heilongjiang Province by Minghui. He was 69 years old.
Minghui is “a website dedicated to reporting on the Falun Gong community worldwide,” says the introduction on its official website.
Lu was a former employee of the Housing Construction Company of Daqing Petroleum Administrative Bureau and was in charge of housing construction cost planning. He started practicing Falun Gong in 1994 and followed Falun Gong’s teachings to be truthful, compassionate, and tolerant in his work and life. He was awarded as an advanced worker every year for his work.
On Nov. 9, 2018, Lu was abducted. On that day, in the Daqing area of Heilongjiang Province, police abducted more than 60 Falun Gong practitioners and illegally raided the homes of nearly 100 people. It is said that the police followed a list to arrest people.
During the period when he was illegally detained in Daqing Detention Center, Lu was forcibly fed, causing stomach bleeding and life-threatening injuries, and was resuscitated in the hospital several times.
According to the Minghui report, Lu “was subjected to being tied up, freezing and standing torture.”
On July 1, 2019, Lu was sentenced to seven years imprisonment for his faith and extorted with a fine of $6,200. He was detained in Heilongjiang Tailai Prison and persecuted to death.
“While the Tailai Prison claimed that 69-year-old Mr. Lu Guanru died of a stroke, his family suspects that he may have been tortured to death,” Minghui reports.
Retired Colonel Gong Piqi
On the night of April 12, 2021, Gong Piqi, a retired colonel and Falun Gong practitioner from Qingdao City, Shandong Province, was persecuted to death in Jinan Prison, Shandong Province. He was 66 years old.
Gong began to practice Falun Gong on Aug. 15, 1999, after the CCP started persecuting Falun Gong.
When the leadership of his military unit came to know that Gong practiced Falun Gong, they forced him to retire early.
During the persecution, Gong and his family were repeatedly kidnapped by the CCP’s police. On July 20, 2018, Gong was illegally sentenced to 7 and a half years in prison for his belief. He was later detained in Shandong Province Prison.
On the night of April 12, 2021, Gong’s family and friends were notified that he had died of a sudden cerebral hemorrhage, and they rushed to Jinan Central Hospital the next morning hoping to have a look at his body but were refused by the hospital and prison.
Prison surveillance video shows that Gong was not feeling well on the night of his death and had been lying in bed, during which a prison doctor came to take his blood pressure and then left without taking any measures. At around 8:32 p.m. that night, Gong fell to the ground.
In the end, despite the strong protest of Gong’s family, only Gong’s elder brother and nephew were allowed to have a look at the body, but they were not allowed to take photos or videos.
“Mr. Gong’s head was injured and swollen and there was blood in his ears, according to his brother,” as is reported by Minghui.
Accountant Mao Kun
On April 11, 2021, Mao Kun, an accountant and Falun Gong practitioner in Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, was persecuted to death by the Chengdu City Detention Center authorities. She was 57 years old.
On July 10, 2019, a group of police broke into Mao’s home on Level 3 of Unit 4, Block 81, Wulidun, Chengdu City. One of the police officers was Meng Hong from Chadianzi Police Station, and there were police from the Jinniu Branch of Chengdu State Security Bureau. Mao and the five Falun Gong practitioners who were visiting her were all abducted.
“Ms. Mao’s arm was broken and her face was bruised during the violent arrest,” Minghui report says.
On Dec. 28, 2020, Mao was illegally sentenced to 11 and a half years in prison. She filed an appeal in court. The case is still under appeal.
On April 9, 2021, Mao was suddenly taken to the Chengdu Third People’s Hospital by the Chengdu City Detention Center for resuscitation. The detention center also notified her family to apply for urgent medical parole for her.
On the evening of April 11, 2021, Mao passed away in the Chengdu Third People’s Hospital. Her family is still awaiting justice.
Huang Qingdeng
On March 26, 2021, 83-year-old Falun Gong practitioner Huang Qingdeng of Hongqiao Town, Yueqing City, Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province, was persecuted to death at Hangzhou No. 2 Prison.
At about 2:00 p.m. on March 26, Huang was sent home from Hangzhou No. 2 Prison on an oxygen infusion.
“His entire body was black and blue. His family suspected that he had been given toxic drugs before being released. He died that evening,” reported Minghui.
Huang was abducted and his home was raided on April 17, 2019. Huang was kidnapped because he used his cell phone to tell people the truth about the persecution of Falun Gong.
On March 12, 2020, Huang was illegally sentenced to seven years by the Yueqing Municipal Court and detained in Hangzhou No. 2 Prison in Zhejiang Province.
In mid-November 2020, prison officials called and told his family that Huang was in the hospital for resuscitation. Doctors said Huang’s life was in danger. However, the prison authorities refused to release 83-year-old Huang on medical parole. He was detained until his death.
Guo Baojun
On March 14, 2021, Zhengzhou No. 3 Detention Center in Henan Province informed Guo Baojun‘s family that Guo had died.
On March 19, Zhengzhou No. 3 Detention Center read out a notification letter to Guo’s family informing them of Guo’s basic condition, stating that Guo had died of respiratory failure. Relatives refused to sign the notification letter and asked for an autopsy report. But the detention center said that there is no autopsy report. Nor does the detention center allow the family to see Guo’s body.
On the night of Nov. 10, 2019, Guo was abducted by police from Baizhai Town police station, Xinmi, Zhengzhou City, when he was distributing Falun Gong truth materials in a local village. On June 29, 2020, he was illegally sentenced to 2 years in prison.
For more than a year, his family was not allowed to see him until Dec. 3, 2020, when his son received a phone call from the Zhengzhou City No. 3 Detention Center, saying that Guo Baojun was in the hospital.
On that day, his son met Guo, who looked very different from six months ago. Guo was emaciated, according to his son. His eyelids were severely swollen and puffy. There was a gastric tube in his nose and a catheter in his lower body. His feet were locked by an index-finger-thick shackle.
On Dec. 28, 2020, Guo Baojun’s son contacted the police at the Zhengzhou Third Detention Center and asked to see his father. He got no reply.
Guo’s family had not been allowed to see him since his son’s visit.
“And it also remains to be investigated if Mr. Guo died in the hospital or the detention center,” Minghui reports.
Guo graduated from Zhenzhou Normal University, and he worked for Houzhai Town Education Commission. He was once a primary school teacher and later worked for Houzhai Township Hospital. He began to practice Falun Gong in 1995. People from local villages and his work units all say Guo was a kind person.
USCIRF: Persecution of Falun Gong Practitioners ‘Likely Continued’
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) issued its annual report (pdf) in April, stating that “According to reports, thousands of Falun Gong practitioners were harassed and arrested during 2020 for practicing their faith, and some likely died due to abuse and torture while in custody. Credible international reports also suggested that organ harvesting, including from Falun Gong practitioners, likely continued.”
According to an Epoch Times report on Dec. 10, 2020, the U.S. State Department announced sanctions on 17 foreign officials for significant violations of human rights.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the United States would bar entry to Huang Yuanxiong, a police chief at the Wucun police station in Xiamen city, southern Fujian Province. The restriction also applies to Huang’s wife.
Huang is from Xiamen Public Security Bureau Wucun Police Station and is sanctioned for his involvement in the detention and interrogation of Falun Gong practitioners. “The sanctions against Huang was a surprise to many, as Huang is just a low-level police officer,” Minghui reported.
Human Rights Perpetrator Are to Be Held to Account
“Standing up for human rights everywhere is in America’s interests,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said on the release of the 2020 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices on March 30, “We will use a broad range of other tools to stop abuses and hold perpetrators to account.”
Lai Jianping, a former Beijing lawyer, told The Epoch Times that the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong is illegal. He condemned it as being “inhumane and utterly devoid of conscience.” He said that the prisons and related institutions involved in the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, whether those who authorized the persecution or those who carried it out, will eventually be held accountable.
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