76-Year-Old Falun Gong Practitioner Dies After Years of Detention by the Chinese Government

Name: Zheng Bao
Gender: Male
Age: 76
Address: Maonan District, Maoming City, Guangdong Province
Occupation: Employee of Maoming City's 2nd Construction Company
Date of Death: February 22nd, 2010
Date of Most Recent Arrest: May 10th, 2004
Most Recent Place of Detention: Yangjiang Prison
City: Yangjiang City
Province: Guangdong Province
Persecution Suffered: forced labour, brainwashing, extortion

Mr. Zheng Bao was a resident of the Maonan District in Maoning City, Guangdong Province. He was detained for over six years by the Chinese government for practising Falun Gong, and his health suffered tremendously from the detention and maltreatment. On February 22nd, 2010, he passed away at the age of 76 without receiving justice for the abuse he suffered.

After the Chinese Communist Party launched the persecution of Falun Gong, the Maoning City "610 Office" [an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong] arrested Mr. Zheng multiple times.

On March 18th, 2000, Mr. Zheng and several other practitioners started their journey riding bicycles to Beijing to tell the government that Falun Gong is beneficial to the country and the people. They had to overcome a lot of hardship along their way. On April 8th, 2000, they arrived in Changge City, Henan Province and were arrested by the local government officials. They were detained at the local detention centre for seven days and forced to do hard labour. Later they were transferred back to Maoning City and detained at the 2nd Detention Centre. Mr. Zheng was released in May 2000.

In August 2000, Mr Zheng was arrested again by the Maoning City 610 Office and National Security Team. He was sentenced to one year of forced labour and detained at the Sanshui Forced Labour Camp. Half a year later he managed to escape from the labour camp.

In January 2002, Mr. Zheng went to Nongmin Street in Maoning City to distribute Falun Gong informational materials and was arrested by the Maoning City 610 Office and sentenced to one year of forced labour. He was taken to Sanshui Forced Labour Camp. Mr. Zheng was released on bail for medical treatment after six months of detention at the labour camp.

On May 10th, 2004, Mr. Zheng and two other practitioners were arrested at their home by over ten policemen from Maonan District Police Branch, including Huang Xiaohua, Wang Zhenyuan and Li Wenwu. Mr Zheng was secretly taken to the brainwashing centre held at the local "legal system education school." On July 2nd, he was transferred to Maoming City's First Detention Centre.

On October 21st, 2004, Maonan District Court did not notify his family so that they could attend the trial and secretly sentenced him to nine years in prison.

On January 10th, 2005, Mr. Zheng and other practitioners were taken to the tenth ward of Yangjiang Prison. He was forced to undergo 12 hour a day brainwashing sessions that defamed Falun Gong and its founder. He was forced to write reports every day on his learning experience. The perpetrators at Yangjiang Prison included Warden Cai Xipeng, deputy wardens Du Wentao and Wu Zhanhua, prison 610 office personnel Liang Guanhong and Chen.

Driven purely by monetary gain, Yangjiang Prison authorities forced prisoners to do hard labour. Mr. Zheng, in his 70's, was no exception. As a direct result, his health deteriorated quickly. He suffered relapsed tuberculosis and long term fever. He could not get proper medical treatment. On top of that, he was forced to finish his daily quota of hard labour, causing severe heart disease. Fearing his death, the prison authorities released him on bail for medical treatment after extorting 8,000 yuan¹ from his family.

On February 22nd, 2010, Mr. Zheng Bao died at the age of 76 at the Maoning City People's Hospital.

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.org/mh/articles/2010/4/7/221120.html