Mr. Wei Chaohai, 62, Tortured to Death in Deyang Prison

Name: Wei Chaohai
Gender: Male
Age: 62
Address: Unknown
Occupation: Unknown
Date of Death: January 1st, 2013
Date of Most Recent Arrest: September 8th, 2009
Most Recent Place of Detention: Deyang Prison
City: Jiangyou
Province: Sichuan
Persecution Suffered: Imprisonment, detention

Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Wei Chaohai died on January 1st, 2013. Mr. Wei was sent to Qingjiang Prison Hospital for emergency treatment on December 31st, 2012, and died the next morning. Details are under investigation; however, it is certain that Falun Gong practitioners are not allowed to do their exercises in prison, and are subjected to forced brainwashing and close monitoring. Thus, they are tortured both physically and mentally.

Mr. Wei was arrested on September 8th, 2009, by officers from the Jiangyou City Domestic Security Division, and was held at a detention centre. Mr. Wei's wife, Ms. Fu Fayu, was detained for several hours, and the police attempted to force her to give the names of practitioners that they were in touch with. The Jiangyou City Court tried Mr. Wei and four other practitioners on August 2nd, 2010, and denied their families entry to the court. Four defence lawyers put forward a strong case, but the practitioners were still sentenced. Zhang Qizhong was sentenced to nine years, Mr. Wei Chaohai was sentenced to eight years, Wu Fenglei was sentenced to three and a half years, and Mr. Du Zhijun and Mr. Wang Lianying were sentenced to three years. Mr. Wei was later taken to Deyang Prison.

Mr. Wei's son, Mr. Wei Bing was incarcerated in Deyang Prison for many years. Wei Bing was arrested in 2002 and sentenced to 10 years in prison. He was savagely beaten, exposed to the scorching sun, and forced to stand for long periods of time. Warden Liu Yuanhang ordered all prison sections to organize a “Steadfast Belief Transformation Team” to “transform” [forcibly renounce Falun Gong] Falun Gong practitioners. The guards of the No. 3 Prison Section organized a “Thug Group” of four inmates to torture Mr. Wei Bing and other practitioners.

Deyang Prison is located in Huangxu Town, Deyang City. It is one of the facilities in Sichuan Province that torture Falun Gong practitioners. In order to force practitioners to give up their belief, the prison guards use many inhuman and abominable torture methods, such as long-term standing, exposure to the scorching sun, freezing in cold winter, standing at attention, forced squatting, long-term running in the heat of summer, solitary confinement, beatings, deprivation of toilet use, and reciting prison rules.

At least eight practitioners have been tortured to death here, including Shen Bing, Xiao Hongmo, Lin Deming, Li Jianhou, Cao Ping, Xiong Xiuyou, Li Zhengling, and Wang Zengren.

According to knowledgeable sources, the torture of Falun Gong practitioners consists of two phases. The first phase is for newcomers. Practitioners are gathered together in the “Newcomer's Ward” and subjected to intensive “training” and close monitoring. They are forced to run, squat, and stand in military positions, and even made to walk like ducks. They are also forced to attend brainwashing sessions. During the second phase, practitioners are dispatched to a ward with a guard that specializes in torturing practitioners. The guard usually assigns two inmates to monitor each practitioner and they use brutal methods to force them to write the three statements to renounce Falun Gong. Practitioners are also forced to do intensive slave labour.