The Deaths of Three Former Retired Staff Members from Xiangtan University After Suffering Persecution

1. Mr. Qiu Youde, 72, was the former head of the Communist Party Organisation Department at Xiangtan University. He began practising Falun Gong in 1997, at the age of 66. He had suffered from many health problems prior to that point. Mr. Qiu was hospitalised for lengthy periods of time and often spent the Chinese New Year at the hospital. In 1997, his daughter gave him a copy of Zhuan Falun [This book comprises the principal teachings of Falun Dafa]. That year he celebrated the Chinese New Year with his family and start practising Falun Gong. His health problems vanished. He became very healthy and for the next three years did not require hospitalisation.

On July 20th, 1999, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started the persecution of Falun Gong. Retired Office Director Zhang Changbao had several conversations with Qiu Youde and pressured him daily. Zhang tried to force him to give up Falun Dafa. Mr. Qiu Youde refused, and later on CCP officials applied even more pressure. They threatened that his son, employed at a police station, would not have a future if Mr. Qiu didn't follow their demands. The director and other personnel kept threatening him and forced him to write a statement giving up on Dafa. Qiu Youde gave in and wrote a statement of "five conditions" in 2000. The CCP officials published this in the university newspaper, and shortly thereafter Mr. Qiu was hospitalised. Mr. Qiu was in and out of the hospital after that, and he passed away in a hospital in 2003.

2. Mr. Hu Yongfeng, 69, was a retired staff member. Mr. Hu's wife began to study Falun Dafa in 1996, and he saw her becoming very healthy after practising Dafa. He witnessed the wonders of Dafa and started reading Zhuan Falun and practising Falun Gong in 1997.

Mr. Hu travelled to Beijing in 2000 to appeal on behalf of Falun Gong. He was arrested and charged with "disrupting social order" and confined at the local Jingtangwan Detention Centre for 15 days. After his release, agents from the school's 610 Office¹ placed him under house arrest. He was forced to undergo several university-conducted brainwashing sessions, where he was ordered to acts as a mole in the local Falun Gong group and send back information to the "610 Office." They also offered him financial incentives if he agreed. Mr. Hu Yongfeng firmly refused.

Sometime around December 26th, 2000, Hu Yongfeng was detained and searched while walking on the street. Xiangtan University Security Division officer Xiao Jiguang conducted the search. Mr. Hu's bag contained several leaflets exposing the persecution. The official arrested him, and agents from the university security division searched his house. Also participating were agents from the propaganda section of the city police department. He was locked up and interrogated at the Xiangtan Detention Centre. He was sentenced to one year in the Xinkaipu Forced Labour Camp in Changsha City. His retirement pension was also suspended.

After his return from the labour camp, Hu Yongfeng's retirement pension was reduced, and "610 Office" agents kept harassing Mr. Hu and his wife. They ordered them to sell their home at the university compound and live in their son's home in Changsha City. Even after the ordered move to Changsha, the persecutors still continued making harassing telephone calls.

Hu Yongfeng went to his son's home in Changsha in November 2004. Within weeks of his visit, the family started receiving harassing phone calls from "610 Office" officials. The intimidation and harassment occurred several times per day and severely disrupted and interfered with the family's life. Hu Yongfeng and his wife returned to the university from Changsha on December 3rd, 2004. Hu Yongfeng died suddenly at noon on the second day of their return.

3. Ms. Chai Yuhua, 63, was a retired staff member at the factory affiliated with the university. She began to study Falun Dafa in 1996. Both she and her husband practised Falun Dafa. Her health problems were cured following the practice. On July 20th, 1999, the CCP started persecuting Dafa practitioners. She was afraid of the CCP and went back to her hometown, Shanghai, to avoid the persecution. She returned to the university in the second half of 2000.

During the New Year of 2001, she and her husband went to Beijing to appeal on behalf of Dafa. They were stopped at the Beijing Train Station and sent back to Xiangtan Detention Centre for a month. While they were there, Yuan Yuexia and Cao Jianzhong from the former Culture and Security Division of Xiangtan Police Department and Xiao Jiguang from the university's security division threatened Chai Yuhua and her husband. They also confiscated her personal savings of 30,000 Yuan². They said that they wouldn't discuss this matter until the issue was resolved. After a month in the detention centre, Chai Yuhua and her husband returned home. Police Department "610 Office" agents forced her to stop practising Falun Gong, sell her home at the university compound and move to Shanghai. The "610 Office" agents sent Chai Yuhua and her husband to Shanghai in 2001.

Agents from the university "610 Office" harassed them in Shanghai several times. They also connected with their Shanghai contacts, telling them to monitor Chai Yuhua and her husband. Chai Yuhua and her husband did not want to go to Shanghai and once returned to Xiangtan University. In order to prevent the couple from settling in at the university, agents from the university's "610 Office" forced them to sell their home in the university's compound.

Although Chai Yuhua and her husband were forced to go to Shanghai, the university was still responsible for paying their salary. The couple still needed to deal with the university concerning certain matters. They wrote to the university several times, but no one ever responded. Chai Yuhua suffered a relapse of several of her previous illnesses and passed away on November 6th, 2006.

Fan Liangjia: head of the "610 Office" 86-13973227837(Mobile), 86-732-8293598 (Home), 86-732-8292417 (Office)

Wang Mingcai: head of the university security division, 86-732-8293164 (Office), 86-13187325949 (Mobile),

Xia Guohua: Vice president of the university, responsible for persecuting Falun Gong, 86-732-8292184 (Office)

Former school security division chief Xiao Jiguang, currently transferred to Xiangtan University graduate studies department, 86-732-2371159 (Home), 86-732-8293556 (Office), 86-13973237177 (Mobile)

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. "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/2006/12/24/145341.html