On March 28th, 2008, the Huili County Procuratorate held a trial to sentence Mr. Gao Guangchong, a practitioner who has been detained for five months. This time, he was also tortured until his body swelled and he could not stand up by himself.
Mr. Gao Guangchong, around 68 years old, used to suffer from a serious stomach illness that made it difficult for him to eat anything. It would take him an hour just to finish a meal. He also used to suffer from lung and heart problems. However, six months after Mr. Gao began practising Falun Gong in March of 1996, he became healthier, and all of his illnesses disappeared.
Since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began its persecution of Falun Gong in July 1999, Mr. Gao has been arrested 11 times. Each time he was brutally tortured. He has been detained several times in a forced labour camp and was forced to leave home twice to avoid further persecution. His home has been ransacked many times and his personal possessions confiscated.
Below is an overview of the persecution Mr. Gao has been subjected to.
After the CCP began to persecute Falun Gong on July 20th, 1999, police officers Yu Minggang, Yang Shaoliang, Li Yongkun, Lu Jianrong, and others from the Huili County Public Security Bureau took Mr. Gao into custody and held him for 15 days in a detention centre.
In October 1999, Mr. Gao was again imprisoned in a detention centre for three weeks. He was handcuffed and shackled. Mr. Gao's term was extended for another month at a different detention centre.
In September 2000, police officer Yu Minggang of the public security bureau and five other officers from Hongqi Police Station arrested Mr. Gao while he was at another practitioner's home. Mr. Gao was imprisoned for 60 days in a detention centre. The officers extorted 6,000 yuan1 from Mr. Gao's daughter before releasing him.
Towards the end of August 2001, police officers Yang Shaoliang, Li Yongkun, and someone by the surname of Hu ransacked Mr. Gao's home. They confiscated over 190 Falun Gong leaflets exposing the persecution. Then they arrested Mr. Gao and took him to a detention centre, where he was imprisoned for 25 days. He was also fined 1000 yuan.
On April 3rd, 2002, policemen Yang Shaoliang, Li Yongkun, and others broke into Mr. Gao's home. They took away his Falun Gong books and arrested him. He was taken to a detention centre and detained for five months. For one entire month, he was forced to wear shackles that weighed 10 kilograms. Later, Mr. Gao was sentenced to two years of forced labour and transferred to a forced labour camp. There, he went on a hunger strike for seven days. Only after he was in imminent danger of losing his life was he released.
On the evening of October 3rd, 2002, Mr. Gao was arrested by police from Dongqu Sub-Bureau while he was staying with his relatives in Panzhihua City. He was then detained in Wanyaoshu Detention Centre for 26 days. He was then taken to a forced labour camp. Mr. Gao escaped from Jinjiang Train Station and left home to avoid further persecution.
On July 23rd, 2003, police officers Wen Xiaohong and Hu and another officer from the county public security bureau broken into Mr. Gao's home to arrest him. Dozens of villagers who witnessed what the police officers were doing said, "Why are you arresting him? He is a good and kind man. He spent a great deal of money and hired over 40 workers to build this new road." They pointed to a new cement road in their village.
The villagers also told the police officers, "During a drought, he spent a lot of money to get water into a big pool in our village. He has done good things for us. Why are you doing this? Why don't you arrest criminals? Why do you arrest a good man?" The officers did not listen to the villagers and called for back up. They arrested Mr. Gao and took him to a detention centre, where he was detained for three months and 20 days. At the detention centre, Mr. Gao went on a hunger strike to protest the persecution. The guards then handcuffed him and brutally force-fed him. The director of the detention centre, Xiong Zhijiang, ordered several guards to forcibly pull on Mr. Gao's hands, legs and head. After cruelly torturing him, the detention centre authorities had the audacity to call Mr. Gao's family to extort 80 yuan for their force-feeding treatment.
On August 1st, 2005, Mr. Gao Guangchong and another practitioner, Mr. Liu Tianhou, took a bus to Panzhihua City. Yanbian county police officers arrested both of them because someone reported them to the authorities. Eleven days later, on August 12th, Mr. Gao was sentenced to three years of forced labour and taken to Xinhua Forced Labour Camp in Mianyang City. However, Mr. Gao was released before his term was over.
On October 14th, 2007, Mr. Gao Guangchong was arrested for the eleventh time by 30 police officers from the National Security Team. They confiscated his satellite receiver, a television, and other personal items.
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/2008/4/17/176669.html
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