Mr. Ouyang Haiwen Sentenced to Four Years in Prison for Practising Falun Gong

Name: Ouyang Haiwen
Gender: Male
Age: 56
Address: Unknown
Occupation: Employed at No. 9507 Factory of Chinese Liberation Army
Date of Most Recent Arrest: January 2011
Most Recent Place of Detention: Hongshan Detention Centre
City: Wuhan City
Province: Hubei
Persecution Suffered: brainwashing, beatings, imprisonment, torture, force-feedings, fired from workplace, detention, denied visitation

He once travelled to Beijing to speak out for Falun Gong, only to end up being beaten by Chinese police and suffering from intracranial bleeding. He was later sentenced to two years in a forced labour camp for sharing important facts about Falun Gong. He once suffered from the brutal torture of being force fed for several months because he had protested being thrown into a forced brainwashing facility for practising Falun Gong. He was at the brink of death several times because he went on hunger strikes as a non-violent means to protest his unconstitutional incarceration. Not long ago, while he was connected to IV fluids and an oxgen tank, a group of medical staff took him to court for a sham trial because he had practised Falun Gong; yet he appeared in court, dignified.

This man is Mr. Ouyang Haiwen, a Falun Gong practitioner and an employee from the No. 9507 Factory of the Chinese Liberation Army.

When the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) banned Falun Gong, Ouyang Haiwen, 56, decided to speak out. Mr. Haiwen is a practioner of Falun Gong and has personally benefitted from its practice both physically and spiritually by following its principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Despite the high risk, he openly shared the truth about Falun Gong. This resulted in him being repeatedly arrested and thrown into detention centres, forced labour camps and forced brainwashing facilities, where he was subjected to horrible torture. Because he had gone to Beijing to appeal on behalf of Falun Gong, the Chinese government pressured his employer to fire him and they succumbed. In January 2011, he was posting messages about Falun Gong on the streets. He was arrested and sent to the No. 2 Detention Centre in Wuhan City where he was tortured.

On May 31st, 2011, the Hongshan District Court held a trial against Mr. Ouyang Haiwen without notifying his family. Several other Falun Gong practitioners were also tried on the same day. This included Mr. Zhang Jingzhou, Mr. Liu Shehong and Mr. Peng Liang. The secuirty was impregnable that day with over 100 police officers, 20 some SWAT officers and several dozen police cars at the courthouse. Before the trial began, the police arrested at least five Falun Gong practitioners.

At the trial, Ouyang Haiwen, despite his frail condition, made a statment, "First of all, I used to suffer from a plethora of illnesses before I started practising Falun Gong. However, after I started to practise I became free of all illness. Second, people from over 100 countries around the world are practising Falun Gong. If Falun Gong is so harmful to people, why does it attract so many followers? Falun Gong has been banned in China for more than a decade, but people still continue to practice. What do these facts tell you? Third, people who practise Falun Gong do not have any agenda, least of all a political agenda. We want nothing but to have good health and become better people. What is wrong with that?"

After the Falun Gong practitioners and their attorney made powerful arguments, the judge called the court to rest. The judge sentenced the four Falun Gong practitioners to prison in mid June 2011. Mr. Ouyang Haiwent was given four years in prison. The other three Falun Gong practitioners were sentenced to three, four and five and a half years respectively. In response to the verdict, the attorney maintained, "The Chinese Constitution stipulates that all Chinese citizens have the freedom of personal belief. This verdict is in direct violation of the Chinese Constitution."

Who authorized a local court to rule against the Chinese Constitution?

Ouyang Haiwen has remained in prison since then. He was later transferred from the No. 2 Detention Centre in Wuhan City to the Hongshan Detention Centre. His family has never been granted any visitation rights. It is alleged that Ouyang Haiwen may be transferred to Fanjiatai Prison, which is nortorious for its cruel torture of Falun Gong practitioners. His family has never received any notification of any of his transfers.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2011/8/10/245166.html