Older Husband Dies While Wife and Son Detained for Their Faith in Falun Gong

A 66-year-old man from Shuangyashan City died without his family by his side. Mr. Wang Yanfan’s wife and son have been detained since October 2014 for refusing to renounce Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline being persecuted by the Chinese communist regime.

Mr. Wang, also a Falun Gong practitioner, worked hard to seek release of his family, to no avail. He then filed a criminal complaint in June 2015 against former Chinese dictator Jiang Zemin for launching the persecution of Falun Gong that tore apart his family.

The local police moved quickly to arrest Mr. Wang two months later. He was deceived into going to the local police station on August 14th and taken straight to Shuangyashan City Detention Centre.

Mr. Wang soon developed severe symptoms of coronary disease and was released five days later. While struggling to recover from his illness, he was forced to move out of the district as the local police feared he’d “make trouble” again by seeking the release of his wife and son.

The authorities declined Mr. Wang’s relatives’ request to allow his wife and son to see him during his final days. He passed away on May 23rd of this year.

Ms. Shan Jinli and her son Mr. Wang Dongsheng remain detained at Shuangyashan Detention Centre following their 2014 arrest. It is unclear whether they have been informed of the elder Mr. Wang’s death.

To date, the police have not returned any of the confiscated items from their home, including their family car, bank cards, jewelry, camera, mobile phones, cash, and printers.

Background

In 1999, Jiang Zemin, as head of the Chinese Communist Party, overrode other Politburo standing committee members and launched the violent suppression of Falun Gong.

The persecution has led to the deaths of many Falun Gong practitioners in the past 16 years. More have been tortured for their belief and even killed for their organs. Jiang Zemin is directly responsible for the inception and continuation of the brutal persecution.

Under his personal direction, the Chinese Communist Party established an extralegal security organ, the “610 Office,” on June 10th, 1999. The organization overrides police forces and the judicial system in carrying out Jiang's directive regarding Falun Gong: to ruin their reputations, cut off their financial resources, and destroy them physically.

Chinese law allows for citizens to be plaintiffs in criminal cases, and many practitioners are now exercising that right to file criminal complaints against the former dictator.