After His Wife Is Arrested, An Elderly Man Dies In Grief

Name: Yang Yaoshan
Gender: Male
Age: 78
Address: Fuxin City, Liaoning Province
Date of Death: February 28th, 2010
Date of Most Recent Arrest: August 2000
Most Recent Place of Detention: Jilin City Forced Labour Camp
City: Jilin
Province: Jilin
Persecution Suffered: Forced labour, torture, interrogation, detention, home ransacked

Mr. Yang Yaoshan had a history of serious heart disease, including unstable heart rhythm and high blood pressure. In 1996 after Mr. Yang started practising Falun Gong, his symptoms of illness disappeared and his health improved significantly. Mr. Yang would regularly comment, "This is a really great practice!"

In July 1999, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started persecuting Falun Gong. In response to being ordered to give up the practice, Yang Yaoshan decided to appeal for justice for Falun Gong. In August 2000, Mr. Yang gathered all his strength and travelled to Beijing to lodge an appeal, but he was turned away. Undeterred, he went to Tiananmen Square and cried out, "Falun Gong is good!" The police arrested and detained Mr. Yang in a Beijing police station. He was later transferred to his local police office, and two days later he was taken back to his hometown by national guards.

Mr. Yang was sentenced to one year of forced labour in the Jilin City Detention Centre. During his imprisonment, he suffered severe abuse, causing his health to deteriorate and his old symptoms of heart disease to recur. However, Mr. Yang never gave up talking to people about Falun Gong and exposing the persecution to those around him. Six months later, he was released.

On January 6th, 2010, Mr. Yang's wife was arrested for trying to stop the police from detaining a group of Falun Gong practitioners. The police then broke into Mr. Yang's home, searched it and confiscated personal property. Traumatised from the sudden shock of these events, Mr. Yang suffered a stroke on January 9th. Despite efforts to save his life, Mr. Yang passed away on February 28th, 2010 aged 78 years old.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2010/4/8/221182.html