Mr. Zeng Haiqi Dies from Torture at Jinshi Prison

Name: Zeng Haiqi
Gender: Male
Age: 42
Address: Hongxia Town, Zhuzhou County, Zhuzhou City, Hunan
Occupation: Employee of a machinery factory
Date of Death: April 26th, 2013
Date of Most Recent Arrest: May 5th, 2010
Most Recent Place of Detention: Jinshi Prison
City: Zhuzhou
Province: Hunan
Persecution Suffered: Electric shock, sleep deprivation, beatings, hung up, imprisonment, torture, physical restraint.

Mr. Zeng Haiqi was a Falun Gong practitioner from Hunan Province, China. He was sentenced to prison for practising Falun Gong and died in prison on April 26th, 2013.

His family received a call from Jinshi Prison on April 25th that he was dying from cirrhosis and renal failure. Mr. Zeng's family was puzzled, as he had been perfectly healthy ever since he started practising Falun Gong. Mr. Zeng even wrote to them from prison in early 2013 to say that he was fine. When Zeng's family rushed to the prison the next day, he had already passed away. Zeng Haiqi died at the age of 42 on April 26th, 2013.

When Mr. Zeng's family saw his body, they saw injuries all over it. His body was swollen. There were bruises on his upper body. There was blood on his genitals and on his buttocks. His family was outraged, “He must have died a most painful death!” His family demanded a thorough investigation, but the prison insisted on examining the body for 20 days first. The 20-day long stay would put a financial strain on his family, who had only limited means. His family speculated that the prison knew the expenses of the prolonged stay and that it would cause them to give up in their demand for justice.

Mr. Zeng Haiqi was the main provider of the family. He had been perfectly healthy since he started practising Falun Gong. His parents are in their 70s. His 16-year-old daughter is attending high school. His death is devastating to his family.

A Good Man Persecuted for His Belief

Mr. Zeng was from Hongxia Town, Zhuzhou County, Hunan Province. He was a very trustworthy and dependable man. He was good-looking with a medium build. He was quiet, but very dependable. While he was working at a machinery factory, he was a technical lead that the factory owner depended on. The factory pays its employees by the number of products each finishes. The production volume varies. When there are a lot of orders coming, with raw materials piling up without enough manpower to work on them, Mr. Zeng often used to say, “We must still help him (the owner) fulfill the orders.” He was often seen working overtime alone. He was very much liked and respected by the owner and his fellow employees. He was known in his neighborhood as a very nice person.

Arrested in 2000

Zeng Haiqi was once sentenced to seven years in prison in 2000 for practicing Falun Gong, although Article 36 of China's Constitution warrants its citizens the freedom of religious belief. He suffered from severe torture in prison because he refused to renounce Falun Gong. He nearly lost his right hand during long periods of being hung up.

After he was released in 2007, Mr. Zeng fled to Shenzhen and found work there in order to avoid harassment from the 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) in his hometown. However, the local authorities found him in Shenzhen after three months. He was forced to go back home. The local authorities arranged him to work in a machinery factory in Xianjing Township, Zhuzhou County. They also ordered him to report to them anytime they summoned him.

Arrested Again in 2010

Zeng reunited with his family for only two years before he was arrested again in 2010.

He was arrested by patrolling police when he was talking to people about the truth behind the persecution of Falun Gong in Xianjing Township. Despite the fact that Article 35 of China's Constitution warrants its citizens the freedom of speech, Mr. Zeng was sentenced to six years in prison for talking to people about Falun Gong.

The prison subjected Mr. Zeng to brutality and torture in an attempt to make him renounce Falun Gong. According to an unnamed Falun Gong practitioner also incarcerated in Jinshi Prison, Zeng was once deprived of sleep for an entire week. An inmate named Huang Zhengjiao was seen bending Zeng's hand backwards to torture him.

Starved and Tortured During the First Imprisonment

When Zeng Haiqi was sentenced to seven years in Chishan Prison in 2000, he was given only half a bowl of rice for each meal for the first 45 days and a third of a bun each meal for the next 30 days.

On May 5th, 2003, Zi Wei, deputy warden, ordered a team of prison guards to punch and kick Mr. Zeng. They repeatedly shocked him with electric batons. On May 20th, 2003, Zi Wei ordered the team to beat Mr. Zeng again. Next they stripped him naked and bound him with a thin hemp rope that made his blood vessels bulge. Then they attacked him repeatedly with electric batons. His skin was burned so badly that one could smell burned flesh in the room. They kept attacking him with electric batons for more than an hour.

In mid-June 2003, a prison guard named He Yong hung Zeng on a red brick wall facing west. The temperature of the wall reached over 122 ºF. His arms and legs were swollen, then festered and suppurated. For three long years Zeng was subjected to severe torture in prison to make him renounce Falun Gong.

Torture Intensified in Intensive Disciplinary Team

Zhang Ainian, director of the Prison Administration Department, decided to move Mr. Zeng to the Intensive Disciplinary Team in February 2004 because they failed to make him renounce Falun Gong in 2003. Zhang claimed that Mr. Zeng would wish he were dead. On March 1st, 2004, Zi Wei ordered prison guards and prison inmates to torture Zeng because he failed to squat and count as ordered. They forced his legs apart until they were a straight line. Then they forced him to kneel down for hours. The tortures caused him excruciating pain.

Zeng Xianbao, captain of the Intensive Disciplinary Team, hung Zeng Haiqi in various painful positions for 18 hours a day. On some days he would have Mr. Zeng's arms handcuffed behind his back and then hang him by the handcuffs from the window frame. He then tied his legs to a high stool in order to force more weight on the handcuffs. The pain was excruciating.

On some days he would have Mr. Zeng's arms handcuffed behind his back, attach a rope to the handcuffs and then hang the rope to a large tree. He would leave him hanging for several hours at a time. He once hung Mr. Zeng like that for an entire day.

Deng Yingfeng, a disciplinary staff member on the Intensive Disciplinary Team, had prison inmates torture Zeng Haiqi with various devices, which caused severe pain and injury but which would not leave physical marks on Mr. Zeng's body.

Zi Wei once reprimanded Zeng Xianbao and Deng Yingfeng for not torturing Zeng Haiqi enough. After three months, Zi Wei kept Zeng Haiqi while he released all other Falun Gong practitioners to regular cells. Zi ordered eight inmates to torture Zeng Haiqi with different devices around the clock.