Mr. and Mrs. Ma Shutian Died Within Months of Each Other as a Result of Police Harassment

Mr. Ma Shutian, a Falun Gong practitioner in from a village near Baoding City, Hebei Province, passed away the day after the local police harassed him at his home in 2001. He died at the age of 58. His wife, Ms. Zhang Yumei, had passed away just months earlier in June 2000 as a result of the local police's threats and interrogations.

Mr. Ma Shutian and his family members started to practise Falun Gong one after another from the spring of 1996 onward. After Mrs. Ma started to practise Falun Gong, the asthma and heart disease that had troubled her for years disappeared without a trace. The family got along with each other and with their neighbours very well. Their daughter-in-law used to argue and even physically fight with others, but she became a peaceful person, as well as a dutiful, respectful daughter-in-law after she started living according to the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance. In fact, the entire family was under the positive influence of Falun Gong, and became more harmonious.

But Jiang Zemin and his henchmen ruined everything for them. After Jiang Zemin ordered the suppression of Falun Gong on July 20, 1999, officials conspired to unlawfully ransack local Falun Gong practitioners' homes, extort money from them in the name of fines, threaten and terrorise them, confiscate their Falun Gong books and materials, and put them under detention at the Zheng Village government office.

They snatched Mrs. Ma away to the Zheng Village's government office, where she was subjected to threats and interrogation. This caused severe damage to her physical and mental health. After her release, Mrs. Ma was afraid to study the Falun Gong books or practise the Falun Gong exercises. She lived in constant fear and panic over the possibility of more harassment and interrogation. Finally, her old diseases began to trouble her again, and she passed away in June 2000.

Mr. Ma lost his wife, and his daughter-in-law gave in to the pressure and gave up practising Falun Gong. Thus Jiang Zemin and his henchmen tore apart this family that had once been happy and harmonious.

In July 2000, Mr. Ma went to Beijing to appeal on behalf of Falun Gong to the Chinese Communist government. He was arrested and brought back by the police from the Beihe Town Police Station on the same day. While detained in the station, the police beat him with a three-inch-wide steel club and thus crippled him. Holding onto an upright state of mind to resist the injustice, Mr. Ma escaped from the police station and had to go into hiding for a long time. Afterwards, the local police often went to his home to harass him and demand money from him in the name of fines. They extorted more than 10,000 yuan (1) and caused Mr. Ma to be severely distressed. After a thug named Wang hounded him at home in 2001, Mr. Ma passed away the following day.

Note:

(1) "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2005/3/9/96909.html