A Retired Cadre of Shenyang Bureau of Civil Affairs in Sichuan Province was Persecuted to Death

Mr. Shen Bing, 66, was a retired cadre of the Shenyang Bureau of Civil Affairs in Jintang County, Sichuan Province. After practising Falun Gong, both his physical and mental health recovered. However, because he refused to to give up the practice, he was sent to Deyang Prison and persecuted until he became critically ill and died on November 22nd, 2010.

Prior to practising Falun Gong, Shen Bing had suffered from liver cirrhosis and spent tens of thousands of yuan¹ every year on treatment. He had used up most of his work unit's medical allowance. He had tried different qigong exercises but to no avail. He came across Falun Gong in 1995 and that positively changed his life forever. In the dozen years afterward, he didn't spent one penny on medical expenses. His complexion had a healthy glow, and his mood was cheerful. He worked hard and was awarded a positive review by the unit's leadership. He told people repeatedly that Falun Gong had given him a second chance in life.

After the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) begun persecuting Falun Gong in 1999, local police and the 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) repeatedly harassed him. In 2008, he was detained for distributing leaflets exposing the persecution and telling people the facts about Falun Gong. So that people could know the facts, he used his personal experience to tell people that Falun Gong was good.

On March 5th, 2009, Chengxiang Township Police Station officers arrested him for distributing leaflets exposing the persecution to a city manager in Chengxiang Township in Chengdu. The same afternoon, Chengxiang police, joined by the Jintang County 610 Office, went to ransack his home and took away Falun Gong books and exercise CD's. He was then taken to the Qingbaijiang Detention Centre.

While he was in detention, he mentioned to his family in a correspondence that he had become blind in one eye and that he was in poor physical condition. His family members attempted to see him but were turned away. Despite his condition, the court in Qingbaijiang sentenced him in secrecy to three years of hard labour. On October 2009, he was sent to Deyang Prison in Sichuan.

The moment he arrived at the prison, he was forced to take part in intense military training, and both his feet and legs swelled up. The guards threatened him, saying that if he did not accept "reform" [forcibly renounce Falun Gong] they would beat him.

In April 2010, Mr. Shen started having pain in his liver. He told the guards the history of his severe liver cirrhosis and requested medical treatment; the guards told him that it wasn't up to him to decide whether or not he should be treated. Due to a lack of timely medical treatment, his condition became worse.

Even though Mr. Shen's condition was critical, the prison did not inform his family. At the end of July 2010, prison officials informed his family that his condition was very grave and that he had been taken to the 201 Hospital in the prison. The prison required proof that his visitor did not practise Falun Gong and an ID when his daughter was allowed to see him the following day. Shen Bing was emaciated and laid in bed lifelessly. The doctor told her that he had reported to the prison that Shen Bing had the symptoms of advanced liver cirrhosis, ruptured blood vessels, had been vomiting blood, and had blood in his stool. He was blind in one eye and could barely see out of the other.

On the third day, the family went to the prison to request a medical parole, but guards told the family that his condition didn't meet the requirements. The family was helpless. A few days later, the prison called the family, telling them that a medical parole would be granted. It turned out that doctor had told the prison authorities that the patient might die, and the prison was afraid of being held responsible and having to foot the medical expenses that might be incurred. The family transferred him to a county hospital for treatment. The prison pressured the family to not allow local Falun Gong practitioners to visit him.

After suffering for several months in the hospital, Shen Bing died on November 22nd, 2010.

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://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2010/11/24/232875.html