Did Fifty-Nine-Year-Old Mr. Chen Baihe Die as a Result of Being Poisoned in Jidong Prison?

Name: Chen Baihe
Gender: Male
Age: 59
Address: Shalingzi Village, Xingcheng Town, Qianxi County, Tangshan City, Hebei
Occupation: Farmer
Date of Death: September 18th, 2012
Date of Most Recent Arrest: May 13th, 2006
Most Recent Place of Detention: Jidong Prison
City: Tangshan
Province: Hebei
Persecution Suffered: forced injections/drug administration, imprisonment, detention

Mr. Chen Baihe, 59, served four years in prison for practising and talking to people about the truth behind the persecution of Falun Gong, despite the Chinese Constitution that states citizens have the right to freedom of religious belief and speech. When he was released in May 2010, his family discovered many alarming things about his health, including dull eyes, reticence, perpetual fatigue and sleepiness, slow response, memory loss, listlessness, weak legs, and red moles on his chest and back turned dark. Mr. Chen lost virtually all of his memory two months before he passed away. He talked gibberish and he could barely see with his right eye.

Mr. Chen collapsed at around 6 a.m., September 17th, 2012. He was unconscious for 22 hours with a high fever before he stopped breathing. Two hours after he passed away, his face, ears, and fingernails turned a bluish purple. Dark red blood came out of his mouth. When his body was cremated, the staff at the crematorium were shocked to see that his ashes were charcoal black. They said, “My goodness, his bones are so dark. He must have been poisoned!”

Mr. Chen was physically strong and in perfect health before being sentenced to prison. He was arrested on May 13th, 2006, while handing out materials containing facts about Falun Gong. He was sentenced to four years in prison despite Article 35 of the Chinese Constitution, which grants citizens the freedom of speech. Mr. Chen was sent to Jidong Prison on April 16th, 2007. His blood pressure rose to 180-200 after a while. The prison hospital prescribed drugs for hypertension, but the drugs did not improve his condition. In fact, Mr. Chen developed a strange itch all over his body. He started to lose his vision, particularly in the right eye. His vision completely failed by the summer of 2009.

Mr. Chen started practising Falun Gong in 2005, after his wife began to practise. His wife, Ms. Zhang Guilan, used to suffer from a myriad of different illnesses. These chronic health problems gave her a foul temper. She would frequently pick fights with her husband and child. She started practising Falun Gong in 1998, and was free of any illness in less than six months. She also became more agreeable and generous. Mr. Chen was delighted with his wife's transformation, so he was very supportive of Falun Gong. Ms. Zhang was repeatedly arrested and imprisoned for practising after 1999, when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began to suppress Falun Gong. The local authorities also repeatedly harassed and ransacked their home. In April 2002, while Mr. Chen was visiting his wife at the Qianxi County Detention Centre, he was found passing Falun Gong articles to her and detained for 15 days and fined 4,000 yuan¹.

Mr. Chen was handing out materials that contained facts about Falun Gong in Yuhuzhai Township, Qianxi County on May 13th, 2006, when the local police station and the Qianxi County Police Department arrested him. The Qianxi Court sentenced him to four years in prison in January 2007. His family appealed to the Tangshan City Intermediary Court, but the court upheld the verdict. Mr. Chen was then sent to the Jidong Prison.

Ms. Zhang and their daughter visited him in prison in mid-July 2009. They saw something strange about his eyes and learned that he had already lost vision in his left eye. The vision in his right eye also began to blur. At that time he also had hypertension, yet the prison never informed Mr. Chen's family of his health problems.

Ms. Zhang called the prison administration directors, He Lizhi and Xu Ziqiu, to request his release based on his medical condition. They said they had to give Mr. Chen a physical exam to see if he was qualified. When Ms. Zhang followed up two days later, they simply said Mr. Chen was not qualified and hung up on her.

Mr. Chen's family went to the prison headquarters in Jiantuozi Town, Fengnan District, to request his release based on his medical condition. They saw director Zhao, who promised to ask the prison for another physical. Ms. Zhang followed up with director Zhao a week later, but she was told that Mr. Chen would have to be blind in both eyes to be released. When asked what would happen if Mr. Chen's vision should deteriorate, Zhao said that it wouldn't deteriorate that fast and that the prison hospital would be able to operate on Mr. Chen if needed.

When Ms. Zhang visited her husband in prison again on December 4th, 2009, she again requested his release. However, the prison refused to let her see him and claimed that visits would be suspended until flu season was over. A female prison guard had Ms. Zhang speak with the person supervising Mr. Chen, captain of No. 5 team Li. Li told Ms. Zhang that a doctor confirmed that Mr. Chen needed eye operations, but Mr. Chen did not want to be operated on in the prison.

Ms. Zhang asked that he be released. Li said that they were treating him as though he had already been released. Li told Ms. Zhang that Mr. Chen was not given any hard work and he was only responsible for cleaning rooms. Li added that they had already made a report on Mr. Chen's condition, but the procedure to be released was very complicated, especially for Falun Gong practitioners. Li said that Mr. Chen's prison term might end by the time he was granted release.

Ms. Zhang said, “You won't let me see him, but you won't let him go either. Who will take responsibility if his life is in danger?” She went to see director Zhao again, but he said Mr. Chen did not qualify for release. The No. 5 team had to make such a request before he could grant it.

Mr. Chen was released after his prison term ended.

It has been repeatedly reported that China's prisons and forced brainwashing centres have injected Falun Gong practitioners with drugs that damage the central nervous system. It has been alleged that poison is put in the food and drinks of Falun Gong practitioners that doesn't kill them right away, but causes death several months or years later.

Note

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