Belated News: Dafa Practitioner Mr. He Guozhong Passes Away Due to Torture

Falun Dafa practitioner Mr. He Guozhong was an employee of Zhongyuan Chemical Factory in Zhengzhou City. When I first saw him in June 2000, he looked much younger than his true age of 53 years old, he appeared to be only in his forties, with delicate skin and rosy complexion. He was not a talkative person. He always wore a smile on his face, and gave people a sense of gentleness even though he was a tall man with a very strong build.

In July 2000, he was arrested and sent to the Second Detention Centre in Zhengzhou City for his cultivation of Falun Gong. Because he refused to give up his belief in "Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance," he was sentenced to forced re-education through hard labour. On Chinese New Year in 2001, he was sent to the Baimiao Labour Camp located on Wenhua Road in Zhengzhou City.

At that time, I was also jailed in the same labour camp. One day I saw a skinny old man with dark skin, a crooked back and walking with a limp. I was told he was He Guozhong. I just could not believe my eyes. How could a strong man turn into old and skinny man who appeared to be in his sixties in just several months?

He Guozhong was detained in a cell together with some criminals who were assigned to cook meals for detainees. The cell was only 20 square metres with six bunk beds and 12 people lived in the cell. Since the criminals had to cook three or four times everyday, they seldom stayed in the cell. Oftentimes He Guozhong was left with a criminal who was specifically assigned to monitor him. The guards did not allow anyone to speak with He Guozhong.

In the beginning, the police tried all means to attempt to force him to give up his cultivation practice. They forced him to watch videos slandering Dafa. However, He Guozhong firmly held onto his belief, so the police had to give up their efforts to transform him.

As time went by, He Guozhong became more and more skinny, his back more and more crooked, and his legs more and more lame. Because he was very slow, everyday no sooner had he arrived at the dinning hall, than the guards ordered everybody to go back to their cells after the meal. Later the police allowed him to go to the dinning hall earlier than others.

Because He Guozhong was a determined Dafa practitioner, the labour camp did not allow his family to visit him, despite his poor health condition. In May 2001, he had high fever and went into a coma. However, police officers Han Hongtao and Zhang Wenzhong still did not allow him to be released on medical parole. They said, "There's no way he can get out of here without writing a guarantee letter promising to give up his cultivation." Several other practitioners requested the police release He Guozhong, but no one paid attention to them.

In the end, He Guozhong wasn't even able to walk from his cell to the dinning hall. The police had to send him to the hospital. The examination found that one leg and one arm of his were full of pus, which kept flowing out. After coming back from the hospital, policeman Han Hongtao told us that one leg and one arm of He Guozhong's had almost become an empty shell. The police isolated He Guozhong from other people, and forced him to go through brainwashing again. But all these ended up in vain. He Guozhong would never give in.

Under such circumstance, He Guozhong's health deteriorated daily. He had ascites and his belly became very swollen. He often fell into a coma. Policeman Zhang Wenzhong said, "Don't worry. He won't die so soon."

No criminals would take care of He Guozhong, so the camp asked Falun Gong practitioner Liu Gaoliang to look after him. Since that time we never saw He again. Everyday we only saw Liu bringing a portion of food to He Guozhong's cell after he finished his own meal. We also saw Liu doing his laundry. Later even Liu Gaoliang did not go to the dinning hall to eat. Other detainees would send two portions of each meal to the cell since He Guozhong was in imminent danger and required round the clock care.

In order to shirk the responsibility, the camp finally decided to release He Guozhong. On June 6, 2001, He Guozhong was carried out of the five or six iron gates of the camp by his family members and rushed to the hospital. However, it was too late. Despite the rescue efforts, He Guozhong passed away on November 29, 2001.

When a reporter called the labour camp [86-371-3945372], a man who answered the phone said that Han Hongtao was from Team Five. The reporter then called Team Five at 86-371-3831209, and the policeman who answered the phone claimed, "Han Hongtao has been transferred to another unit. I'm a newcomer and don't know anything about He Guozhong. There's no way to investigate."

According to sources, Han Hongtao is the chief criminal who persecutes Falun Gong practitioners in the Baimiao Labor Camp. His crimes have been reported previously in October on Dafa websites.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/12/17/62701.html