Guangdong Man Dies One Year After Release from Prison for Practicing Falun Gong

Mr. Jiang Hanquan passed away in early 2019, one year after he was released from prison for his faith in Falun Gong. He was in his 60s.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Mr. Jiang, a resident of Puning City, Guangdong Province, was arrested on December 1, 2014 for posting poems at his door about Falun Gong. The police ransacked his home and confiscated his Falun Gong-related items.

While he was kept at Puning Detention Centre, Mr. Jiang developed dangerously high blood pressure, kidney problems, and hyperuricemia (high uric acid level in his blood). His wife frequented the local police station, procuratorate and the court to seek his release on bail on medical grounds, but her request was rejected each time she went.

The detention centre also proposed to release him for medical treatment, but the authorities insisted to hold him in custody and proceeded with his prosecution.

Mr. Jiang appeared in Puning Court on January 3, 2015. He was charged with “undermining law enforcement with a cult organization,” a standard pretext used by Chinese courts to imprison Falun Gong practitioners.

His lawyer entered a not-guilty plea for him. In addition to emphasizing the lack of legal basis for the persecution, the lawyer argued that Mr. Jiang didn't harm anyone by posting the words “Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance,” the core principles of Falun Gong, on his door. He went on to argue that while Falun Gong is persecuted in China, it's freely practised in many other regions, including Hong Kong, Taiwan and the U.S.

The judge frequently interrupted the lawyer's defence.

Mr. Jiang was sentenced to 3.5 years in Sihui Prison on April 9, 2015.

His family received his medical exam report issued by the prison hospital on October 19, 2015. In addition to the persistent, extremely high blood pressure, the doctor also found gallstones. But when his family applied for medical parole, the prison authorities rejected their requests.

Mr. Jiang was released from prison in late 2017. He told his family that the prison used all kinds of torture and deceptive means in attempts to force Falun Gong practitioners to renounce their faith, regardless of their age or physical condition. Another practitioner, Mr. Liu Beiping, suffered bleeding in his brain and became paralyzed as a result of the torture.

Mr. Jiang also recounted that the prison guards periodically drew blood from the practitioners. He suspected it was related to the Chinese regime’s killing of Falun Gong practitioners for their organs.

Agents from Puning 610 Office frequently harassed Mr. Jiang after his release and threatened him to give up practising Falun Gong. He lived in fear and was under tremendous mental pressure. His health continued to deteriorate. He passed away in January 2019.