Older Mr. Bao Wenjun Died after Years of Torture, Harassment and Imprisonment

Summary of Key Persecution Facts:
Name: Bao Wenjun

Gender: Male

Age: About 60 years old

Address: The Hongguang Farm at Makit County, Kashgar Prefecture, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region

Occupation : Unknown

Date of Death: Unknown

Date of Most Recent Arrest: After release from No. 5 Prison in Xinjiang at the end of 2012, specific date unknown

Most Recent Place of Detention: Makit County Detention Centre, Kashgar Prefecture, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region

City: Makit County

Province: Xinjiang

Persecution Suffered : Sleep deprivation, forced labour, brainwashing, imprisonment, torture, force-feedings, home ransacked, detention

Mr. Bao Wenjun, a Falun Gong practitioner, died after suffering years of persecution. Prior to his death, he was tortured many times, detained in a labour camp and was in a prison for five years. Further information will be provided once it becomes available.

Mr. Bao Wenjun is from the Hongguang Farm at Makit County, Kashgar Prefecture, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. He started practising Falun Gong in 1996.

Most Recent Detention

After Mr. Bao was released from the No. 5 Prison in Xinjiang at the end of 2012, he was arrested again for distributing Falun Gong materials exposing the persecution in Seriqbuya Town in Maralbexi (Bachu) County, Kashgar Prefecture. He was held at the local police station in Bachu County and then transferred to the Makit County Detention Centre.

During Mr. Bao's detention, his 84-year-old mother asked that her son be released, but her request was refused. She died before her son was released.

Mr. Bao Wenjun experienced severe diabetes during his detention. He died not long after his release.

Subjected to Years of Persecution, Including Five Years in Prison

Police from Makit County ransacked Mr. Bao's home without a search warrant in March 2007.

He was arrested in May 2007 because he mailed Falun Gong materials exposing the persecution to a number of people.

Mr. Bao was sentenced to a five-year prison term by the Makit County Court without due process on November 3rd, 2007.

The Kashgar Daily reported on December 6th, 2007 that Bao was “using a heretical organization to undermine the implementation of law” (the blanket charge leveled at all Falun Gong practitioners) and maligned him. He was held at the No. 5 Prison in Xinjiang.

Guards at the No. 5 Prison try to brainwash practitioners in an effort to force them to renounce Falun Gong. Besides subjecting practitioners to brainwashing, they torture practitioners with a variety of methods, including forced-feeding and sleep deprivation. They also arbitrarily increase the length of the detention if a practitioner refuses to “transform” [forcibly renounce Falun Gong].

Arrested and Imprisoned Many Times since 2000

Mr. Bao was frequently held by the Hongguang Farm and the Jiuxiang Police Station during the year 2000, shortly after the persecution began.

On the night of November 26th, 2004, Mr. Bao and fellow practitioner Ma Jixu were arrested by police from the Forty-eight Mission Police Station of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.

At the time, Mr. Bao was sentenced to a one-and-an-half year term in a labour camp.

Implication Policy Extends Persecution to Many People

Eight practitioners and family members at the Hongguang Farm suffered harassment between November 26th, 2004 and January 6th, 2005. Valuable items and cash were confiscated from practitioners' homes, and because of China's implication policy, their families were also harassed by the authorities. The authorities stole 80,000 yuan (over $13,000) from just one practitioner.

The implication policy extended to local officials and people in the neighbourhood of Hongguang Farm. Some officials' salaries were cut by 30 per cent and the chief of the Jiuxiang Police Station lost his job.