The Persecution that Practitioner Mr. Li Huimin from Hebei Province, Endured before His Death

Mr. Li Huimin, a Falun Dafa practitioner from Jizhou City, Hebei Province, was imprisoned in Hebei Province Jidong Prison and suffered inhuman torture for five years. On the morning of February 5th, 2006, Mr. Li died due to severe mental and physical damage from the persecution.

The following is Mr. Li Huimin's personal account before he died. It had to go through several places before reaching us safely.

"My name is Li Huimin. I was born in 1952. After I started practising Falun Dafa in 1995, I experienced great physical and mental changes and became very healthy. All my fellow villagers thought I was a good person. My temper greatly improved and all the conflicts I had with others were solved. Everyone knew that Falun Gong practitioners were trying to be good people.

"On April 25th, 1999, Zhao Xinqiao, Li Xuezhi, Yan Su, and Li X from the local police station started to harass me for practising Falun Gong. When the persecution officially started on July 20th, 1999, Zhao Xinqiao detained me at the police station for several days and then imprisoned me for another half month. After my release, the local police watched me 24 hours a day. Liu Lisen and other personnel from the City 610 Office¹ directed Yan Su to confiscate my business license, thus cutting off our source of income.

"In March 2000, as my wife and I practised the exercises outside, Li Xuezhi and Li X arrested us again and detained for two weeks. Li Xuezhi and Zheng Baoxin later extended the term. Since many practitioners from Jizhou had gone to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong in May 2000, Zhao Guosheng from the political security section ordered Li Xuezhi, Yan Su, and other policemen to watch me around the clock. There was a furniture shop in the building where I lived and they would lie down on the new sofas and watch me. I told them, "I didn't do anything wrong. Why are you watching me and bringing all this trouble to my neighbours? Are you afraid that I will go to Beijing to appeal?" Li Xuezhi said, "You think I like watching you? Since you said you would go to Beijing to appeal, I'll arrest you." I was then arrested and detained again.

"At that time, many practitioners from Jizhou City had already gone to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. The city officials, including Mayor Ji Qingzhe and Party Secretary Yan Shengzhong, who is now the chair of the anti-cult association in Hengshui, made the decision to attempt to target a practitioner to be held responsible for this. Therefore, every police station in the county began "illegally arresting²" and detaining many practitioners.

"In Jizhou City Li Xuezhi, Zhen Baoxin, Wang Yuwei and Zhang were responsible for these arrests. They tortured practitioners by forcing them to sit on the floor with their arms holding both legs, and then they would insert a wood stick underneath their knees and above the arms to incapacitate them. In addition to tightly handcuffing them, they would bind practitioners' thumbs with a rubberised fabric, wet it, then hook it up to a live telephone wire to electrically shock them. This would go on for over an hour. Ms. Zhou Xuemei and her daughter were tortured miserably this way. Some practitioners were tortured for just telling the truth. All three members of my family were arrested. When my home was ransacked, they found a written indictment against Jiang Zemin and a letter to Jizhou City officials exposing the persecution. They thought my daughter had written it, so they tortured her.

"I wanted to protest my fellow practitioners' mistreatment, so I thought I should suffer some hardship. I then carried out a hunger strike for six days. The director of the detention centre (probably Xue Zengpi) came to see me every day. He ordered the inmates to watch me but not to harm me. At 11 p.m., on the sixth day, my daughter and I were released. Sun Juan from the local "610 Office" drove us home in an official vehicle. Our home was a mess. In the chaos, I found a search warrant signed by Li Xuezhi, Zhen Baoxin, and Wang Yuwei.

"The next day, Zheng Baoxin and Wang Yuwei came to my home again. The police started another 24-hour watch outside my building. Over 10 days later, officials came from Hengshui City to investigate. One of them was Wang Changxin.

"On June 12th, 2000, Wang Changxin, the Director of the Hengshui Police Department, and Zhang Ligang, from the political security section of the Jizhou Police Department, ransacked my home and arrested me once again. I was initially detained for six months in the Hengshui Detention Centre and then imprisoned in Tangshan City's Jidong Prison. I was kept in the First Division. The political head was named Bi Zhiyu. In attempting to force me to give up the practice of cultivation, they did not allow me to talk to any inmates. As a result, none of the over 100 inmates spoke to me. Four people would take shifts to watch me day and night, recording everything I did. The prisoners would earn credits for this. Once the prison guard handcuffed me behind my back for six days. The handcuffs cut into my wrists. I was once forbidden to sleep for four straight days. Another abuse involved the prison guard forcing me to lie down with my feet raised above my head and not being allowed to sleep. In the winter I was handcuffed in a room with the wind coming in all directions. If I wanted to use the toilet, they would strip me and not allow me to dress until I was done. I often suffered tremendous gas pains, which kept me from eating or moving for several days."

Mr. Li Huimin had suffered five years of physical and mental torture. He also underwent intensive brainwashing and slave labour for his refusal to give up the practice of Falun Gong. This long-term pressure eventually took a toll on Mr. Li's health. He developed high blood pressure and became very weak and depressed upon his release in 2005. He died on the morning of February 5th, 2006.

Note

1. "The 610 office" is an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems.

2. Illegally arrested: Contrary to what former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin, who initiated the persecution, and the Chinese Communist Party would like the world to believe, practising Falun Gong is NOT illegal in China. Although the Public Security Department issued an unconstitutional set of restraints on the practice at the onset of the persecution in 1999, no laws have been passed by the only legislative body in China, the People's Congress, banning Falun Gong or granting the police the authority to arrest Falun Gong practitioners for practising the exercises or distributing flyers. For a more complete discussion of the illegality of the persecution of Falun Gong, please refer to the article "The Ban on Falun Gong—A Dictator's Whim, Not the Rule of Law". (Variation: "illegally sentenced")

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2006/3/3/121978.html