Practitioner Mr. Liao Yuanfu Dies after Years of Torture

Name: Liao Yuanfu
Gender: Male
Age: 47
Address: Shuitang Village in Panlian Township of Miyi County
Occupation: Farmer
Date of Death: November 7th, 2012
Date of Most Recent Arrest: December 15th, 2000
Most Recent Place of Detention: Deyang Prison
City: Miyi County
Province: Sichuan
Persecution Suffered: Sleep deprivation, brainwashing, beatings, hanging by handcuffs, imprisonment, torture, extortion, physical restraint, interrogation, detention.
Key Persecutors: Political Security section chief Xiang Jinfa at Miyi Police Department

Mr. Liao Yuanfu began practising Falun Gong in 1996. His health and spirit improved and he was filled with energy. Mr. Liao was friendly and liked to offer a helping hand to those in need. Falun Gong taught him that the purpose of life was to return to one's true, pure self. He took reputation and gain lightly, and thought of others before himself.

In July 1999, Falun Gong was slandered and the ruthless persecution by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began. Ms. Liao spoke up for Falun Gong and explained the truth of the persecution in public. He went to Beijing to seek justice for Falun Gong.

On October 20th, 1999, Mr. Liao and twenty or so practitioners gathered at one of their homes in Binghaiba to read Falun Gong books. Xiang Jinfa, Yang Zihua, Zhou Lin, Liao Hongbing, Chai Faxiang, and Li Xuesong from the Miyi Police Department and officers from the Binggu Police Station arrested all the practitioners at the group study. Twenty six Falun Gong practitioners were locked up on the second floor of the Political Security section meeting room at the police department. It was warm that day so Mr. Liao was only wearing a shirt. However, it got very cold during the night, and officer Chai Faxiang kept all the doors and windows open so that practitioners shivered in the cold. Mr. Liao was sent to the Miyi Drug Rehabilitation Centre and detained there for seven days.

Mr. Liao went to Beijing twice in October and November 1999, and he was arrested and detained both times. In November 1999, Mr. Liao went to Beijing to appeal, and was arrested and detained for a month in Miyi County. Xiang Jinfa, the Political Security section chief at Miyi Police Department, told Mr. Liao's wife that Mr. Liao would be released if she paid 1000 yuan¹. Since there was not enough money at home, she took out a loan from the bank and gave 1000 yuan to Xiang Jinfa. However, Xiang Jinfa did not release Mr. Liao upon receiving the money. He made arrangements with Panlian Township that once Mr. Liao stepped out of the detention centre, he would be taken to the Panlian Township Brainwashing Centre. Mr. Liao suffered severe beatings, physical punishment, and brutal brainwashing at the centre.

On December 14th, 2000, Mr. Liao hung up some Falun Gong banners outdoors. He was arrested at home on the morning of December 15th by officers from the Political Security Section and the armed police. Mr. Liao was sent to the Political Security section of the police department. The police beat Mr. Liao with fists and boots, and armed police hit him with the backs of their guns. Mr. Liao's face swelled from the beating and his eyes were black and blue. The beating lasted for several hours. During interrogation by section chief Xiang Jinfa, Mr. Liao's hands were cuffed, and he was hung up by the cuffs with only his toes touching the floor. Xiang Jinfa and other officers beat Mr. Liao with batons. Mr. Liao was tortured for several days there. Mr. Liao was then sent to a detention centre. At the detention centre, instructor Liu Qichao hit Mr. Liao with a bunch of keys used for every door in the detention centre. Mr. Liao was sentenced to ten years in prison on January 24th, 2001, and he was transferred to Deyang Prison.

While in prison, in order to "transform" [forcibly renounce Falun Gong] Mr. Liao, guards used every imaginable method of torture on him. The guards instructed criminal inmates to monitor Mr. Liao around the clock, and they were encouraged to insult, beat, and physically punish him freely. Mr. Liao's body was soon covered with wounds, old and new. During his ten years in prison, Mr. Liao suffered unimaginable mental and physical torture. In addition to frequently having his hands and feet cuffed and other physical punishments, prison guards and inmates tied up Mr. Liao's wrists and ankles with wire. The wires dug into Mr. Liao's flesh and left deep scars, and they were clearly visible after his death. Mr. Liao's legs had a blackish tone and there was muscle atrophy below his kneecap.

After Mr. Liao was released, through Falun Gong study and meditation, his health slowly recovered, and he was able to do some light farm work. However, the local 610 Office v and village committee often harassed and threatened him. In January 2012, officials from the Panlian Township and Shuitang Village called him to have a “talk” at the village office. They forbid Mr. Liao from practising Falun Gong, contacting other practitioners, and talking about the persecution he had suffered. The officials declared that if he did not cooperate, they would stop his 80 year-old mother's pension subsidies (every person over 60 years old is eligible for 60 yuan per month in pension subsidies), withhold employment opportunities for his son (Mr. Liao's son was in his second year in college), and neither he nor his son would be allowed to work on their own.

The officials demanded that he write a guarantee statement to renounce practising Falun Gong, but Mr. Liao refused. They then forced Mr. Liao's press a fingerprint on a blank piece of paper. It is unknown what the official later wrote on that piece of paper.

In March 2012, Mr. Liao had pain all over his body, and was out of breath and very uncomfortable. His condition deteriorated, and he was eventually bedridden and unable to care for himself. During his illness, to prevent other Falun Gong practitioners from visiting him, monitoring personnel threatened Mr. Liao and his family members. Mr. Liao was sent to the Huaxi Hospital in Chengdu in September, and was diagnosed with multiple cancers, including lung cancer. The condition was pronounced untreatable. After he returned home, he would lay in bed every day suffering stabbing pains. He lost more weight and became nothing more than skin and bones. Mr. Liao passed away in extreme pain on November 7th, 2012, leaving behind his wife, his eighty year-old mother, and a son who was still in college.

Fellow practitioners, friends, relatives, and neighbours were saddened by Mr. Liao's passing, and went to his home to help with his funeral. Plainclothes police were sent from Miyi Domestic Security Division to mix in with the crowd at Mr. Liao's home, and they secretly watched those who came to the funeral, and every Falun Gong practitioner at the funeral was subjected to arrest.

Falun Gong practitioners Ms. Zhang Jihui, Ms. Zhang Jiping, and Ms. Zhang Jifang are sisters, and they lived in the same village as Mr. Liao. They went to Mr. Liao's home to help out with the funeral. Police from the Panlian Township and local police stations arrested them right after they got home. They were detained at the Chengguan Police Station and their homes were ransacked. Ms. Zhang Jifang was released the second day. Ms. Zhang Jihui and Ms. Zhang Jiping were sent to the Shuanggou Detention Centre at Miyi, and were released on November 30th. On the day of the funeral, many Falun Gong practitioners were being followed, and numerous practitioners and their families were harassed.

Note

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