Mr. Liu Hongxiang Dies as Result of Persecution

Mr. Liu Hongxiang, 34, was an employee of the Jinan City Second Petroleum Chemical Factory. He was very well liked by his managers and colleagues due to his faith in Falun Gong and his practising the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. He was very kind and worked hard. In July 1999, the factory administration dismissed him from his job under pressure from the persecution, along with more than a dozen fellow practitioners. He went to Tiananmen Square in Beijing on October 1st, 2000, and appealed on behalf of Falun Gong. The police arrested him, extorted 2400 yuan¹ from him, and sentenced him to three years of forced labour. He was subjected to violent brainwashing and intense hard labour in the Wangcun Forced Labour Camp and Liuchangshan Forced Labour Camp .

Mr. Liu Hongxiang

Mr. Liu found a job in a company owned by a fellow practitioner after his release from Liuchangshan Forced Labour Camp. He established a warm and caring family in a very short period of time. The police refused to do the paperwork for his wedding, so he sued the police station and Licheng District 610 Office². The police gave in and issued his residential certificate.

Around midnight on April 22nd, 2004, the police arrested eight practitioners, including Mr. Liu, and ransacked their dorm that was owned by a fellow practitioner. The police sentenced Mr. Liu to another three years of forced labour in July 2004, and also sentenced the other practitioners arrested at the same time.

Mr. Liu appeared to have severe tuberculosis the second time he was serving his forced labour sentence, and he was released on medical parole. In a weakened physical condition, he went to both the 610 Office and the police station, and had his Falun Gong books and personal belongings restored to him. They had been taken during a police ransacking.

The police never gave up harassing him. At the end of March 2009, they still called his hometown in Shanghe County and forced him to agree to meet. In order to not complicate things with his parents, he met with the police in his weakened condition. The police tried to arrest him then and there, but seeing he was as weak as he was, they left.

At the end of April 2009, his family took him to Shandong Province Tuberculosis Hospital and spent a large amount of money, but in vain. His liver and stomach were both ruined by the strong medication. The hospital dismissed him on June 13th, 2009, and he died early in the morning on June 20th, 2009, survived by his young wife and 85-year-old father, whose hearts were broken.

Note

1. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.

2. "The 610 office" is an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2009/6/24/203346.html