Changchun Practitioner Li Zhiyong Near Death from Persecution in Jilin Provincial Prison

Changchun Falun Dafa practitioner Li Zhiyong is detained in the Jilin Provincial Prison. He presently suffers from a serious kidney problem, brought on by the persecution. According to medical experts, it is virtually unheard for a 26-year-old man to develop such a severe kidney problem within ten days or so, unless he was hurt in a car accident or was severely beaten to the point of unconsciousness. On May 18, Jilin Provincial Prison authorities informed Li Zhiyong's family that he was ill and his life was in danger. Two months have passed, but Li Zhiyong is still being detained in the prison. He is presently on the verge of death.

Jilin Provincial Prison gave different excuses not to release him. They said once that they couldn't reach an agreement within the prison to release him. Another time it was that the prosecutor's office didn't agree for him to get bailed out for medical treatment. Now the excuse is because local authorities where Li Zhiyong lives, including persons in Yitong County's "610 Office," the personnel in the Security Division of the County Police Department, and Zhengyangjie Police Station do not want him and refuse to sign the papers, so he cannot be released.

The following are the details about this practitioner:

Practitioner Li Zhiyong is 26 years old and begun practicsng Falun Dafa in 1995. Prior to his arrest, he had worked at the cafeteria of a municipal bank, the ICBC (Industry and Commercial Bank of China). He has a good reputation among his coworkers and even the leaders in the bank know of his good reputation.

Li Zhiyong was arrested on March 10, 2003 in Changchun City. Luyuan Police Branch officers arrested him for participating in tapping into Changchun City's TV signal on March 5 to play a Dafa documentary video. After holding him at the Tiebei Detention Centre in Changchun City for 21 months, at the end of 2003 he was sentenced to four years in prison and transferred to the No.3 Prison Section, Jilin Provincial Prison.

When his family visited him on April 15, 2004, he looked normal. After May 1, the prison started to aggressively persecute those who refused to give up their belief, which continued through the months of May and June. In the middle of May, Li Zhiyong's family received a call from the prison, saying that Li Zhiyong had a kidney problem. His family immediately went to the prison and requested to see him. A prison guard told his family that he had been sick for over a week. The family was permitted to see Li Zhiyong under the prison guard's close supervision. His whole body was swollen. He could not eat and could only barely lie down on his side. He told the family his situation had lasted over ten days. He was so weak that after saying just a few words to the family, he suddenly closed his eyes and had no strength to say any more. Prison guards told the family that unless he wrote the "four statements" promising to give up practicing Falun Gong he would not be paroled for medical treatment. Li Zhiyong and his family firmly refused to accept such a precondition.

Li's family went to the prison on May 24, 2004 to visit him again. The prison authorities made all kinds of excuses to refuse the visit. The family realized he might be in the emergency room in the hospital and started to look for him in the all the hospitals in Jilin City. Finally, they found Li Zhiyong in the Kidney Departmemt at Jinlin's Central Hospital. His life was in danger and he had been diagnosed as suffering from "nephritic syndrome."

According to the doctor familiar with his case, Li Zhiyong is now experiencing fluid accumulation in the heart, ascites and an oversupply of protein in his urine. According to another medical expert, if Li Zhiyong had no history of kidney ailments, a 26-year-old man could not suddenly develop "nephritic syndrome" in a mere ten days, unless he was severely injured in a car accident or endured severe blows that made him lose consciousness. His family requested to see Li Zhiyong in the hospital. The prison was afraid of having the the persecution exposed and refused their request firmly. The family tried all kinds of ways but without success.

Jilin Prison authorities are abusing and mistreating practitioners cruelly under this persecution. The most frequently used method is to incite criminal prisoners to torture practitioners, baiting them with reduction of prison terms. The prison tried hard to prevent their crimes from being exposed, such as the incident in which Liu Chengjun was being tortured to death, Wang Guiming being beaten for eight days and nights, Zhang Hongwei being tied to the "Dead Person's Bed" (1) for over 50 days, and now Li Zhiyong's case. Such savage abuse and gross mistreatment are merely the tip of the iceberg. Such fiendish persecution is still continuing against other practitioners.

We hope those who have a righteous conscience will pay close attention to what is happening in Chinese prisons and help stop such criminal conduct that treats human life as though it were without value.

Related information:

Yitong County, Jilin Province

Jinlin Provincial Prison

Address: No.100 Yunmin Road, Jilin City, Jilin Province, China 132012
Operator: 86-432-4881551
Prison Administration Section: 86-432-2409418
Court Liaison Office for the prison's Prosecutor: 86-432-4881515, 86-432-4881559 (fax)

List of perpetrators:
Li Qiang, head guard at the prison, 86-432-4881551 ext. 3001
Liu Changjiang, political director of the prison, 86-432-4881551 ext. 3003, 86-432-2497756 (home)
Wang Yufan, assistant head of the prison, 86-432-4881551 ext. 3006
Tan Fuhua, head of Education Section, 86-432-4881551 ext. 3040, 86-432-4832386 (home); 86-13644478377 (mobile)
Li Yongsheng, staff person in the Education Section
Liu Wei, head of the Prison Administration Section, 86-432-2409418
Lin Zhibin, head of the No.5 Division, most evil police guard
Zhang Guilin, staff in the No.4 Division
Pang Hongjun, head of the No.6 Division

List of criminal prisoners acting as hatchet men:
Xu Zhigang, Gao Yulin, Guo Shutie, Han Zhibin, Lu Sizhu, Zheng Lianwen, Kong Qinggang,

Notes:

(1) "Dead Person's Bed" or "Big Letter Board": This method is used to torture practitioners who are on a hunger strike to protest and who do not yield to unreasonable demands. Practitioners who are on a hunger strike are tied to the "Dead Person's Bed" so that their hands and feet can't move. Jail guards and prisoners force-feed them using the "feeding through the nose" method. Many practitioners have lost their lives from this torture.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/8/3/80882.html