Man Has Relapse of Heart Disease after Years of Persecution for His Faith, Dies at 68

A Shenyang City resident died on March 29, 2018, after succumbing to heart disease. Mr. Chen Cunli, 68, had become very healthy after he began to practice Falun Gong in 1996, but he had a relapse of his old symptoms a few years ago after having been detained multiple times for his faith.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a mind and body improvement system that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since July 1999.

Mr. Chen credited Falun Gong for curing his vertigo, frozen shoulder, intestinal problems, and heart disease. He went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong in July 1999, days after the persecution began. He was detained in Beijing for 15 days. After he returned to his hometown, the local police began to frequently harass and follow him.

A year later in October 2000, Mr. Chen went to Beijing again to appeal for Falun Gong. He was given forced labor and detained for a total of three years in Longshan and Zhangshi Forced Labor Camps. After he was released, he and his wife, Ms. Feng Luqing, were constantly harassed by police and government officials, who attempted to pressure them into giving up Falun Gong. They had to leave home to avoid further persecution.

As they lost their jobs and couldn’t return home, Mr. Chen's elderly mother struggled to care for their daughter. Local officials often broke into their home, several times after midnight, to threaten and terrify the elderly grandmother and the youngster.

The police seized Mr. Chen and Ms. Feng from their temporary housing on September 29, 2002. Mr. Chen was taken to Zhangshi Forced Labor Camp and tortured.

Another time, the couple were working in a market when six armed policemen came to arrest them because someone had reported them for talking about Falun Gong to others. Mr. Chen escaped, and Ms. Feng was arrested in June 2014.

The couple later exercised their constitutional right and filed criminal complaints against Jiang Zemin, the former Chinese Communist Party leader who launched the persecution of Falun Gong, for their pain and suffering over the years. On November 2, 2015, the officers from Minzhu Police Station arrested and detained them for 24 hours.

After years of enduring illegal detentions, torture, surveillance, harassment, and threats, Mr. Chen had a relapse of his heart problems and died in March 2018.

Five months after he passed away, two people, one in police uniform, forced their way into their home and started taking videos. His 83-year-old mother was so traumatized that she became bedridden.