Jiangsu Man Convicted for His Faith Dies One Day after Second Prison Term Expires

Mr. Zhu Xinghe started coughing up blood clots on the morning of June 23, 2018, and died later that afternoon, at age 54.

Mr. Zhu's death occurred only one day after his 3.5-year prison term expired. He had been wrongly convicted for a second time in 2014 for refusing to renounce Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline being persecuted by the Chinese communist regime. Though he was released on medical parole in June 2016, he was closely monitored and surveilled, and the mental pressure on top of his deteriorating health eventually took his life.

Repeated Arrests and Two Jail Terms
Mr. Zhu, who lived in Jiangyin City, was first arrested in November 1999, two months after the persecution of Falun Gong began. His second arrest took place in 2001 and was followed by one-and-half-years of forced labour. While held at a local labour camp, he was shocked with electric batons for refusing to sing songs praising the regime. The guards ordered the inmates to sing even louder to drown out his painful screams.

Mr. Zhu was arrested again in April 2004, after being reported for sending out text messages saying that practising Falun Gong was totally legal. He hired a lawyer, who was pressured to stop representing him.

Mr. Zhu was sentenced to five years in prison, and was brutally tortured at Wuxi Prison. During his imprisonment, he was briefly taken out of the prison and held at a local brainwashing centre for five months.

The local police targeted Mr. Zhu again on February 21, 2012 and sent him to the same brainwashing centre, where he was held for four months.

Mr. Zhu was arrested in June 2014 but released on bail 48 hours later, after a required medical examination revealed that he had thrombocytopenia (low blood platelet count) and splenomegaly (enlarged spleen). A woman from the local Procuratorate called him on November 3, 2014 to say that they were preparing to prosecute him.

He was returned to custody on December 22, 2014 and issued a formal arrest warrant on January 29, 2015. Less than four months later, he was sentenced to a 3.5 year prison term, to commence on December 22, 2014.

The guards at Suzhou Prison subjected Mr. Zhu to various forms of abuse, after which he developed cirrhosis of the liver and hepatic ascites. He was granted parole and released on July 6, 2016. His local judicial bureau was tasked with monitoring him at home.

Mr. Zhu's condition suddenly worsened on the morning of June 23, 2018, the day after his jail term expired. He died in the afternoon after several bouts of coughing up blood clots.