Mr. Ma Tianjun, 54, Passes Away after Eight Years of Torture in Prison

Summary of Key Persecution Facts:
Name: Ma Tianjun
Gender: Male
Age: 54
Address: Liupanshui, Guizhou Province
Occupation: Teacher
Date of Death: July 3rd, 2013
Date of Most Recent Arrest: August 26th, 2002
Most Recent Place of Detention: Duyun Prison, Guizhou
City: Liupanshui
Province: Guizhou
Persecution Suffered : Electric shock, sleep deprivation, forced labour, brainwashing, forced injections/drug administration, beatings, hanging by handcuffs, imprisonment, solitary confinement, force-feeding, physical restraint, interrogation, detention, denial of toilet use, other tortures.

Falun Gong practitioners Mr. Ma Tianjun and his wife, Ms. Li Yi, were arrested in August 2002. Mr. Ma was sentenced to eleven years in prison. After eight years of torture he became paralyzed, unable to speak, and was dying. He was released in 2010, as he was dying, and the prison wanted to shirk responsibility for his possible death. He passed away on July 3rd, 2013. While on medical parole, he was closely monitored by local government agencies and the local police station.

Mr. Ma was originally from Taian County in Anshan, Liaoning Province, but worked as a teacher in Liupanshui, Guizhou Province.

Mr. Ma and his wife fled their home to avoid being arrested after the Chinese government started persecuting Falun Gong in 1999. They were nonetheless arrested by officers from Xingguan Police Station in Guiyang on August 26th, 2002, for speaking with people about Falun Gong.

The couple was later detained and tortured in Nanming Detention Centre in Guiyang and Wudang District No. 1 Detention Centre.

The officers at Xingguan Police Station who tortured Mr. Ma were not wearing uniforms or any identification, and the abuse methods used were particularly brutal. One time a stool was placed on Mr. Ma's chest as he lay on the floor. An officer then sat on the stool, pushing the legs of the stool into Mr. Ma's flesh.

Other officers struck Mr. Ma's limbs with metal disks. Such forms of torture are used because they don't leave visible wounds, but cause a great deal of pain and damage the muscles and tissues.

The police fractured Mr. Ma's arms and legs, then sent him to the Guiyang Police Department Criminal Investigation Group. Mr. Ma's hands were tied behind his back, his legs were shackled, and he was hung by handcuffs that way for four days. He was also force-fed water containing chili powder, shocked with electric batons, and whipped with a belt.

Mr. Ma asked to used the bathroom during his arraignment at Nanming Detention Centre in Guiyang. The guard ignored his request and beat him. Later, Mr. Ma, his wife, Ms. Li, and another Falun Gong practitioner, Li Yinrui, were deprived of sleep for six days and nights.

Nanming District Court in Guiyang sentenced the couple to eleven years in prison in May 2003. Mr. Ma was sent to Duyun Prison in Guizhou, and Ms. Li was sent to Yangai Prison.

In Duyun Prison, Mr. Ma was handcuffed behind his back and the handcuffs were attached to the window bars. This torture continued for 25 days. In the winter, guard Luo Xianlai ordered the inmates not to give Mr. Ma a quilt.

Mr. Ma, Chen Zhongquan, Wang Meihua, and Zang Dongsheng ripped up cartoon posters that slandered Dafa and were thus punished from March 10th to April 8th, 2004. Deputy prison warden Zhong Shan shocked the practitioners' faces and necks with an electric baton until their flesh was burned. They were also tied to beds with their arms stretched out and made to watch propaganda that slandered Falun Gong for nearly 40 days. Mr. Ma was also locked in solitary confinement.

Practitioners in different wards who refused to give up their beliefs were sent for further “transformation” [forcibly renounce Falun Gong] from October 2004 to March 2nd, 2006. In June 2005, criminal inmates Yu Hongbing, Zhou Kuangjian, and others were instructed by the guards to severely persecute Mr. Ma, Mr. Xiao Zhifei, and Mr. Yang Maojun.

After years of torture, Mr. Ma's lower limbs became paralyzed and he lost his ability to speak. His physical condition was extremely poor. He was released on medical parole in 2010 and passed away on July 3rd, 2013.

Guards and criminal inmates in Duyun Prison uses cruel ways to torture Falun Gong practitioners, including the death bed, forced sitting on a small stool for hours at a time, kneeling on a concrete floor, burning with boiling water, burning with cigarettes, shining a strong light in the eyes, making them listen to and watch propaganda that slanders Falun Gong, leaving them in the cold with little clothing, etc. The prison staff compiles ways to torture Falun Gong practitioners in a manual used by the guards.

Seventy-four-year-old practitioner Mr. Wu Botong died in Duyun Prison on September 11th, 2005, as a result of the torture and brutal treatment. His body was quickly cremated.

Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Hu Dali from Xiuwen County died in Duyun Prison on January 19th, 2011, as a result of persecution. His body was quickly cremated.