Mr. Zheng Huiwang Secretly Given a Ten-Year Sentence; Family Visits Are Denied

Practitioner Mr. Zheng Huiwang is from Bazhou City, Hebei Province. He was arrested at his home by Bazhou City police on January 21st, 2008. His family did not know what had happened to him. All they knew was that he had disappeared. At the end of March 2008, his family suddenly received a notice from the No. 1 Prison in Baoding City. That was when they discovered that Mr. Zheng had been sentenced to ten years in prison and that he was in Baoding Prison.

After receiving the prison notice, Mr. Zheng's family went to the Bazhou City Court to question the law enforcement staff, "What did Mr. Zheng do to be given such a long sentence? Why wasn't the family notified? Why didn't the court arrange an open day court date for him? What is wrong with practising Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and trying to be a good person?" The staff were speechless.

On December 22nd, 2008, Mr. Zheng's father, who is 72 years of age, went on a journey by himself, travelling to Baoding City prison to visit his son. It was a tough journey, and he had to ask around before finally finding the prison. However, the warden, Chen Zhurui, refused to let him visit no matter what he said. Mr. Zheng's father was told that he did not have senior management's permission. It has been almost a year, and not once has the family been allowed to visit him. None of the family members were told of Mr. Zheng's situation. His own father travelled a long way to see him and was denied visitation.

In the beginning of January 2009, Mr. Zheng's 19-year-old son was killed in a car accident. Since the persecution began in July 1999, Chinese Communist Party (CCP) personnel have arrested Mr. Zheng many times. His family could not maintain a normal life and they could not afford to send their son to school, so he had to leave school and help support the family. He was only 15 when he shouldered this responsibility. He became the only hope for his mother and grandfather.

Mr. Zheng's relatives and friends witnessed how his family was persecuted by the CCP through all these years. His family became so poor that they barely had any money left. When Mr. Zheng's son died, everyone blamed the CCP. They went to the government to ask for Mr. Zheng to be released so he could take care of his son's funeral. One government department knew about Mr. Zheng's family situation and agreed to his release.

Six or seven of Mr. Zheng's relatives went to the prison to request his release to organize the funeral. Two of the guards appeared (wardens Chen and Li). They not only refused them, but also refused to let them see Mr. Zheng, claiming that Mr. Zheng was doing very well. They could not let him know about this bad news. If he knew, it would be more difficult to convince him to give up his belief. His relatives insisted on his release and told them that even the local government agreed to Mr. Zheng's release. However, Baoding Prison officials firmly refused to release Mr. Zheng.

Mr. Zheng has never given up his belief even though he has been arrested many times since July 1999. He has been sent to forced labour camps, brainwashing centres, and prison (for a ten-year sentence), and he was once homeless. In 1999, he went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong and was sentenced to three years of forced labour. He was first taken to Wangzhuang Forced Labour Camp in Langfang City. Later on, because he did not give up his belief, he was transferred to Gaoyang Forced Labour Camp, where he was tortured with electric batons and other equipment. He was released after three years. Only one month passed after his release before he was forced to leave home again to avoid further police harassment. During the time he was homeless, he was arrested once again and taken to a brainwashing centre in Langfang City. He was injected with unknown drugs in the brainwashing centre. Later on he was transferred to the Tangshan Forced Labour Camp, where he went on a hunger strike to protest the persecution. He was once bound to a chair for one week and was force-fed every day. After eight months of torture, he was in critical condition, so the labour camp released him to avoid responsibility in case he died.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2009/2/10/195195.html