Mr. Song Tingfang, an Official from Inner Mongolia, Died in 2002 as a Result of Persecution

Mr. Song Tingfang, who used to work in the Livestock Department of Dolonnur County, Inner Mongolia, was sent to a forced labour camp by the local Political and Judiciary Committee, the “610 Office”, and his own work unit because of his determination to practise Falun Gong. As a result of the persecution, he became very weak physically and eventually died in April of 2002.

Mr. Song Tingfang had many illnesses prior to his practice of Falun Gong. After he started, all the illnesses were gone without any medical treatment. At the beginning of the persecution against Falun Gong in 1999, Mr. Song Tingfang was selected as one of the delegates to present facts about Falun Gong to the County Committee and the County Political and Judiciary Committee. In February of 2000, faced with various forms of pressure, about 60 Falun Gong practitioners from around Dolonnur County (including Mr. Song's wife) went to Beijing to appeal on behalf of Falun Gong. All of the practitioners were arrested once inside the National Appeals Centre in Beijing. The government assigned the resolution of this incident to Li Lanqing, the top official of the National “610 Office” at that time.

Mr. Song was then sentenced to three years in a forced labour camp. A police officer named Zhang Quan repeatedly beat and verbally abused him during that period of time. Mr. Song's wife was fined more than 1,000 yuan for appealing. Falun Gong practitioners were being held inside the Wuyuan Forced Labour Camp of Inner Mongolia. Mr. Song and other fellow practitioners were forced to attend brainwashing sessions daily. They were forced to watch videos that slandered Falun Dafa. Other inmates were ordered to monitor the daily activities of practitioners 24 hours a day. Practitioners had to repeatedly write out their so-called "personal understandings" about Falun Dafa. Police officers would repeatedly threaten practitioners to obtain confessions. Every day, practitioners were forced to perform hard physical labour.

Mr. Song's wife didn't have a job and his two children were attending school. Mr. Song was the sole source of income for the family before he was put in the labour camp. Under pressure of the persecution, Mr. Song agreed to sign the "Three Statements" when he was on the brink of mental collapse. Afterwards, his physical health deteriorated and he showed signs of illness. He then realized that he was wrong in submitting the statements. He told police officer Wei Yuzhi that he wanted to issue a verbal declaration to nullify his statements. Wei Yuzhi threatened Mr. Song with increased daily work time if he dared to declare his statements null and void.

Mr. Song was actually released from the prison in advance of his complete term. His health situation deteriorated rapidly when he got back home. At the same time, the Political and Judiciary Committee, the “610 Office”, and his own work unit were still monitoring and pressuring him. Mr. Song died as a result of the continual physical and mental persecution.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2004/12/26/92166.html