Liaoning Man Abused and Dies in Prison

A resident of Chaoyang City, Liaoning Province died while serving a five-year prison term for practising Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

It was reported that guards at Dalian Prison had been abusing Mr. Li Jiechun since he was transferred there in July 2017. They deprived him of sleep for many consecutive days in order to force him to renounce his belief in Falun Gong. When that failed to shake his faith, they had four people bombard him with hate propaganda against Falun Gong during the day and force him to sit on a miniature stool for extended periods at night. This torture lasted five straight days. A guard beat Mr. Li on the sixth day.

After Mr. Li held a hunger strike in protest, the guards paused for two weeks before starting another round of torture again.

The relentless torture claimed Mr. Li's life on December 3, 2018. He was 62.

Mr. Li never married and didn't have close family members to visit him in prison. The details of his death remain to be investigated. In the meantime, it was reported that he was buried in his hometown of Chaoyang City on December 16.

Repeatedly Arrested for Practising Falun Gong
Mr. Li suffered from rickets and bone disease since childhood and was unable to do any hard labor. He began to practice Falun Gong in 2000, despite the persecution that had started the year before. He soon regained his health and often shared his story with people to demonstrate that Falun Gong is nothing like what's depicted by the state propaganda.

Simply for raising awareness of the ongoing persecution, Mr. Li was arrested five times. He served two terms of forced labour for a total of five years between 2002 and 2008. The labour camp guards savagely beat him and shocked him with electric batons when he refused to renounce his faith.

His latest and sixth arrest took place on September 7, 2016 after he was reported for distributing Falun Gong informational materials. He was sentenced to five years by the Beipiao City Court on December 29, 2016. The Chaoyang Intermediate Court held a hearing for his appeal on May 5, 2017, but upheld the original verdict several months later.

Mr. Li began to serve time at Dalian Prison in July 2017, where he died from torture and abuse 17 months later.