Mr. Pan Benyu, Who Once Saved Six People's Lives, Died as a Result of Relentless Persecution and Torture

Name: Pan Benyu
Gender: Male
Age: Unknown
Address: Qiqihar City, Heilongjiang Province
Occupation: Former employee from the Qiqihar Railroad Bureau Environment Sanitation Station
Date of Death: February 21st, 2010
Date of Most Recent Arrest: December 8th, 2006
Most Recent Place of Detention: Tailai Prison
City: Qiqihar
Province: Heilongjiang
Persecution Suffered: Forced labour, beatings, imprisonment, solitary confinement, torture, physical restraint, burned with cigarettes

Because Mr. Pan Benyu firmly believed in Falun Gong and followed the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, he was sentenced to forced labour camp twice and sentenced to imprisonment twice (once four years, once seven years). After suffering repeated abuse and torture in police custody, he passed away at 1:00 a.m. on July 17th. His death certificate and medical records had been altered by the authorities.

Becoming a Good Person after Practising Falun Gong and Helping to Save Six Lives

In the summer of 1997, one of Mr. Pan's neighbours gave him a copy of the Falun Gong book, Zhuan Falun, and he started practising Falun Gong. Reading the book changed him, and he got rid of many bad habits. Since then, he tried to be a good person and conduct himself according to the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. In September 1997, at a railway crossing near his home, two children on bikes collided on the tracks and fell on the rails just as a train was approaching. When Mr. Pan saw what happened, he rushed over and pushed both children out of harm's way. The train came so close that his clothes were caught and torn.

Mr. Pan also saved four people from drowning in a river in Qiqihar. One of them was Mr. Zhang, a man in his thirties, who was on the other side of the river when he got into trouble and cried for help. Mr. Pan jumped into the river to save him. Mr. Zhang grabbed Mr. Pan's arm so hard that the flesh was torn open. Using all his strength, Mr. Pan finally was able to pull him out. Mr. Zhang expressed his gratitude to Mr. Pan. Mr. Pan said, “You are welcome. How could I not save you when you were in danger?”

Suffering Brutal Persecution for Upholding His Beliefs

Mr. Pan was repeatedly persecuted because he refused to give up his spiritual belief. Shortly after the persecution started on July 20th, 1999, he was sent to a brainwashing centre for two months and then sentenced to one year of forced labour. He was detained in Nianzishan Forced Labour Camp in Qiqihar, where he was beaten almost every day. He was also whipped with a plastic hose, hosed with cold water for one to two hours straight in winter, burned with cigarettes, and beaten severely, among other tortures. He wrote letters to appeal. The letters were seized. He was monitored and his pen was taken away. He was forced to do slave labour and dig foundations day and night. On June 16th, 2000, he was released.

In July 2000, Mr. Pan was arrested and later sent to Fuyu Forced Labour Camp. He was put into a large prison ward with other practitioners. Practitioner Li Qi and Ma Yong refused to watch videos slandering Dafa. Evil guard Jia Weijun took them out and beat them brutally and shocked them with electric batons. Practitioner Wang Baoxian shouted from the window, “Do not persecute Falun Gong practitioners!” Mr. Pan tried to stop the beating and was beaten down to the ground by inmates. One day, guard Jia Weijun instigated inmates to take Mr. Pan to a pig pen and beat him three to four times. Mr. Pan was beaten unconscious. Jia Weijun then poured boiling water over Mr. Pan's body, severely burning him. Mr. Pan was not allowed to eat or use the toilet.

Mr. Pan was arrested on July 5th, 2001 and sent to Fuyu Forced Labour Camp again. To cover up the truth of how practitioners Wang Baoxian and Zhang Xiaochun were persecuted to death, Mr. Pan was sentenced to four years in prison and sent to Bei'an Prison. The evil guards also intended to torture Mr. Pan to death to prevent their crimes from being exposed. In prison, Mr. Pan was kept in solitary confinement for more than 70 days. Other inmates beat him until his head was injured and bleeding. His hands were chained behind his back and to the floor. He was not given any blanket so he was not able to sit or lay down. When he was unlocked 15 days later, he could no longer move his arms, and his blood pressure was dangerously low. He vomited and urinated blood. The flesh on his arms and wrists was rotting. He was in and out of consciousness, on the verge of death. He was released on June 18th, 2005.

He was able to recover that time and on April 30th, 2006, the police tried to arrest him at his home, but he escaped and went into hiding. He delivered milk to make a living. On December 8th, 2006, two officers from Beijuzhai Police Station arrested him at his parents' home. At the station, he was handcuffed to the heating pipes by team leader Wang from the 610 Office (an organisation of special agents just for persecuting Falun Gong) in Tiefeng District. He was kicked really hard in his stomach. He was beaten to unconsciousness. Two days later, he was sent to Qiqihar First Detention Centre, where he was beaten so brutally that it caused failure in his heart, liver and kidneys. When he was on the verge of death, he was taken to the Qiqihar Second Hospital.

Mr. Pan was sentenced to seven years in prison by the District Court in Tiefeng. He was forced to give his finger print on a blank statement of his sentence. On April 18th, 2007, he was taken to Tailai Prison.

Passed Away Under the Persecution

During his detention in Tailai Prison, Mr. Pan was tortured brutally and had symptoms of heart disease, liver ascites and myocardial infarction. He vomited blood and his head swelled badly. He was not able to take care of himself. Although he was close to death, the prison officials said that he would not be released unless he renounced Falun Gong. On May 22nd, 2009, the prison and the 610 Office let his family take him home on medical parole.

At around 8:00 a.m. on February 21st, 2010, two officers (one of them surnamed Xing) from Beijuzhai Police Station in Qiqihar City and three prison guards (one of them surnamed Zhu) from Tailai Prison went to Mr. Pan's home. They claimed that he needed to go for a mandatory annual physical examination associated with his medical parole and made his family pay a lot of money for the exam. They then took him to the 1st Hospital of Qiqihar City where they told his family that the examination fee could be waived if it was done at the prison. The family had no choice but to allow them to take Mr. Pan back to the prison. However, after the exam, he was not released.

Mr. Pan returned home on medical parole for the second time from Tailai Prison on July 31st, 2010. His health condition was extremely bad. His entire body itched and became swollen; his abdomen swelled up and he suffered greatly.

Police officer Lin Zhenya and two other officers broke into Mr. Pan's house in February 2011 and took Mr. Pan's Dafa books and MP3 player. They threatened Mr. Pan and said they were going to take him back to prison. Mr. Pan had to leave home, and his family didn't know his whereabouts.

Mr. Pan returned home on April 28th, 2011 and his health condition worsened. On June 28th, he could no longer walk or have a bowel movement. The same day, Zhu from Tailai Prison and another officer came to Mr. Pan's house and took him to the hospital for a physical examination.

At 8:00 p.m. on July 8th, Mr. Pan was on the verge of death. The family took him to the emergency room of Qiqihar Third Hospital. The same day, several police officers secretly came to investigate Mr. Pan's medical condition and modified Mr. Pan's hospital records. Mr. Pan's condition kept worsening. After he saw his family and spoke with them in the evening on July 16th, he passed away at 1:00 a.m. on July 17th.

Tiefeng Police Department of Qiqihar City, Heilongjiang Province: +86-452-2183708
Tiefeng District Political and Judiciary Committee: +86-452-2188663
Beijuzhai Police Station: +86-452-2112035
Tailai Prison warden: +86-452-8229203

Related articles:
http://clearwisdom.net/html/articles/2010/4/6/115925.html
http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2009/7/27/109530.html
http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2005/10/6/65611.html

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2011/8/6/245004.html