Practitioner Mr. Hou Zhen'an from Jiamusi Passed Away after His Entire Family Was Persecuted

Mr. Hou Zhen'an, 71 years old, began cultivating in Falun Dafa in 1994. He obtained great benefits both physically and mentally. Many of his health problems were miraculously resolved. After he introduced the practise to his wife, who also greatly improved, his eldest son, eldest daughter-in-law, and eldest grandchildren also began cultivating together.

On July 19th, 1999, Mr. Hou and others set out for Beijing to speak out on behalf of Falun Dafa. However, they were arrested by a group of policemen from the Jiamusi Public Security Bureau at Harbin City and taken back to Jiamusi. At the Yonghong Sub-Bureau, the leader of the National Protection Team, Shi Xiuwen, gave them a "lecture," identified the 'leader,' and identified who was in charge of what. Each of the practitioners was interrogated. That night, supervisors from their workplace took them home, demanding 100 yuan in cash¹ as a transport fee between Harbin and Jiamusi. At 4 p.m. on July the 22nd, the remaining practitioners were forced to watch Falun Gong-defaming television. Mr. Hou was fined 3,100 yuan before being released.

In late July, Mr. Hou heard a knock on his door. When he opened it, a video camera was staring him in the face. A reporter said, "We're from the Jiamusi television station and we heard that your entire family practises Falun Gong." Mr. Hou answered affirmatively, and the reporter continued, "We also heard that people who practise Falun Gong do not take medicine." Mr. Hou replied, "As practitioners, we do not have any health problems, so why would we take medicine? If anyone really wanted to take something, we wouldn't bother them." The reporter quickly turned off the video camera in the middle of Mr. Hou's response. The station then "interviewed" a doctor Liu, who said, "Hou's wife had hemodialysis, but refused to take medicine because she practised Falun Gong. After she refused to heed all our advice, she finally passed away." This was, in fact, a lie. In the end, the television crew broadcast the video of Mr. Hou, titling it, "A Victim of Falun Gong," although not a single word from Mr. Hou was in the video. The only words were the lies of the broadcaster.

In late 2000, Mr. Hou set out for Beijing once again. On the train, police officers from the Jiamusi Rail Bureau asked every passenger to slander Teacher Li [Teacher Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Dafa]. Whoever refused was taken away. Mr. Hou refused and was taken away with another practitioner. They were each forced to pay 100 yuan for "food expenses."

After returning to the Jiamusi rail station. Mr. Hou brought out a banner with "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance" and started shouting, "Falun Dafa is good, "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance" is good!" with the other practitioner. They were detained at the Rail Public Security Bureau. In the afternoon, Mr. Hou's supervisor came to take him back.

At the end of the year, Mr. Hou's supervisors received instructions from their superiors to abduct Falun Dafa practitioners on a large scale. Two days before the Chinese New Year, five or six policemen in two police cars drove over to Mr. Hou's house. Two officers barged into the house and took him away. After Mr. Hou refused to cooperate, the Public Security Bureau chief came to talk to him, with the promise that he would be able to return home for the New Year. However, once Mr. Hou reached the police station, he saw pictures of Teacher laid down on the ground. The policemen told him, "Once you step on these pictures, you'll be able to return home." Mr. Hou replied, "You are truly evil. This is my Teacher, and I cannot step on his picture." Mr. Hou's supervisor brought him to Heli Detention Centre himself.

Mr. Hou had to eat small, tasteless crumbs of buns every day and was not allowed to go to the washroom. On Chinese New Year's eve, a gang of police came to ask him, "Do you think Li Hongzhi is a good person or a bad person?" Mr. Hou replied, "A good person. He is my teacher." Four days later, Hou was released. However, before he left, the bureau chief demanded money, "You have to pay for the gas and car expenses we spent visiting you four times." Mr. Hou did not submit to their demands.

In June 2003, the chief of the Chang'an Police Station brought two officers to barge into Mr. Hou's home, taking away his Dafa books and leaflets exposing the persecution arrested Mr. Hou, and took him back to the Chang'an Police Station for interrogation. Chen Wanyou from the Jiamusi Police Station arrived later. They brought Mr. Hou's eldest daughter-in-law, Ms. Men Xiaohua, who was already in dire health due to persecution and torture, and placed her in front of Mr. Hou with a spiked club raised. They then demanded that Mr. Hou reveal where he had obtained his leaflets. He replied that he had simply found them in his backyard. He was imprisoned in a tiny cage. Some time later, ten other practitioners were arrested and interrogated. Thereafter, the practitioners were brought to an infectious disease hospital for check-ups before being sent into a detention centre. Due to Mr. Hou's high blood pressure, the detention centre would not accept him. They then took him to a Chinese physician's hospital for another check-up, but his blood pressure remained high. Mr. Hou demanded to be released and was finally sent back.

His eldest daughter-in-law, Ms. Men Xiaohua, was deceived and sentenced to forced labour. She was brutally tortured in the labour camp. During the most serious period of persecution, Chen Wanyou brought policemen to her place on many occasions to harass her. They demanded that she reveal the names of practitioners from photos that the police had taken, but she said that she did not know any of them. Tragically, she died in the summer of 2003.

In the summer of 2004, Mr. Hou and another practitioner were arrested by policemen from the Lianjiangkou Town Police Station while distributing leaflets. He was sent to the detention centre and Chen Wanyou was present. Even though Mr. Hou persistently explained the true situation of Falun Dafa to them, the officials would not listen and kept on asking where Mr. Hou had obtained his materials. After the prison doctor found that he had high blood pressure and a high heart rate, Mr. Hou was released. The other practitioner was sent to a detention centre to be persecuted.

Hou's eldest son, Mr. Hou Zhiqiang, also suffered many arrests, physical interrogations, harassment, physical torture, forced labour, and other forms of persecution at the hands of the local Public Security Bureau and the 610 Office. He was imprisoned in a labour camp on two occasions for a total of four years and six months. He suffered countless types of brutal torture in the labour camp. During March 2005, only when he was so physically drained and wounded from the torture that he could not even move did the authorities send him to a hospital. When the doctor said that it would be necessary for him to remain in the hospital for treatment, police guards Yang Chunlong and Diao Yunkun, who had brought him there, replied, "No, he can't stay here. It's okay, we'll take him back. He won't die."

The long term harassment, arrests, and threats took a tremendous psychological and physical toll on Mr. Hou, and he passed away on September 30th, 2006.

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://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2006/10/13/140076.html