Mr. Zhao Xun Imprisoned for Eight Years--610 Office Plots to Continue Persecuting Him

Mr. Zhao Xun, 40, is a practitioner from Hubei Province. He was employed at the headquarters of China Yangtze River Sanxia, Inc. After he began practising Falun Gong in June 1994, he regained his physical and mental health. Mr. Zhao had a reputation for being hard-working, kind, and helpful, which earned him the admiration and respect of his supervisor and co-workers.

Once the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started persecuting Falun Gong in 1999, Mr. Zhao was persecuted as well. He was steadfast in his belief and he explained the facts about Falun Gong to others. As a result, he was arrested under orders from the CCP 610 Office¹ on April 18th, 2001. Later, a CCP court sentenced him to eight years in prison. In 2002, he was taken to Section 5 of Fanjiatai Prison in Shayang City, Hubei Province.

Mr. Zhao did not follow the unreasonable demands while he was in prison, and the guards retaliated by brutally mistreating him. They made him work in an unsafe brick kiln and forced him to stack bricks while they were still red hot. Mr. Zhao's sentence recently expired, but the staff of the Hubei Province 610 Office deceived him and took him to the Wuhan City Brainwashing Centre. They were unsuccessful, however, in their attempt to force him to give up his belief in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.

Mr. Zhao had a lovely family, but the persecution placed great pressure on them. His wife divorced him, and Mr. Zhao was given custody of his daughter. At first, Mr. Zhao's parents cared for her while he was in prison. But in recent years, Mr. Zhao's ageing father became unable to walk, and his mother was barely able to take care of herself. Consequently, Mr. Zhao's daughter, who is about 10 years old, is now being cared for by her uncle.

We urgently ask the international community to pay serious attention to the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China that has been taking place for the past ten years. We hope that everyone who supports human rights will step forward and stop this terrible abuse.

Fanjiatai Prison, Shayang City, Hubei Province: 86-724-8570010

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.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2009/3/16/197254.html