Li Shigang Sent to a Forced Labour Camp Despite Disability Suffered during Arrest

Falun Gong practitioner Li Shigang from Jilin City in Jilin Province was arrested and persecuted in 2002. He fell from a seventh floor during the arrest and became disabled. On April 23rd, 2008 police arrested him again and searched his house. He was sentenced to two years of forced labour on May 26th.

Li Shigang lived in Longtan District in Jilin City of Jilin Province. In August 2002 when he was living in Jilin City, he was reported to the police. Officers from the Fengman Police Department went to his house and tried to pry open the door. They broke into the house and fired tear gas inside. Li Shigang was standing on the balcony and was blown off his seventh-floor balcony by the force of the tear gas. His back and feet were seriously injured. Officers from the Fengman District Police Department sent him to a nearby hospital, where he was briefly operated on. Two days later police called his family and asked them to take him home. Even though he was disabled from the fall, the authorities continued to hound and persecute him.

At about 4 a.m. on April 23rd, 2008, Li Shigang went back to his home. Police from the Tuchengzi Police Station in Longtan District were lurking outside his house at the time and caught him. They handcuffed him and injured his wrist. He was not allowed to use the toilet, and they covered his head with a plastic bag.

When he was interrogated later, Li Shigang refused to answer any questions. At 9 p.m., police went to his house and ransacked it. They confiscated Falun Gong books, video cassettes, several mobile phones and calling cards. The next day police searched his house again and took away more valuables. At 11 p.m. on April 23rd, 2008, police sent him to the detention centre in Jilin City.

One month later on May 26th, 2008, the Legal Section of the Jilin City Police Department sentenced him to two years at the Yinmahe Forced Labour Camp in Jiutai City. A medical examination showed that there was a steel plate in his back, a steel rod in his right foot, and a fracture in his left foot. He was also suffering from heart disease. The doctor in the forced labour camp urged the police to have him X-rayed and have a electrocardiogram examination in the Jiutai Hospital. After the results came back, the labour camp authorities suppressed them, and continued to detain and subject Li to forced labour.

Li Shigang currently has difficulty just looking after himself and has trouble even walking up stairs. Even under such circumstances, he is still forced to do heavy labour. He has so far been detained for eight months and denied adequate medical treatment.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2009/1/5/192970.html