Older Dalian Practitioner Mr. Zhao Fei Dies after Ten Years of Persecution

Name: Zhao Fei
Gender: Male
Age: 54
Address: Heavy Machine Factory Apartment, Longwan Community, Zhanqian Street, Jinzhou District, Dalian City
Occupation: Former worker at Heavy Machine Factory
Date of Death: December 31st, 2011
Date of Most Recent Arrest: Summer 2007
Most Recent Place of Detention: Masanjia Forced Labour Camp
City: Shenyang
Province: Liaoning
Persecution Suffered: Electric shock, sleep deprivation, solitary confinement, forced labour, brainwashing sessions, beatings, hung up, home ransacked, detention

Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Zhao Fei, from Dalian City, Liaoning Province was sentenced to forced labour three times, detained five times and taken to a brainwashing centre once. At Masanjia Forced Labour Camp, he was severely tortured until his life was in imminent danger. After he returned home, Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials constantly harassed him. He was also summoned several times to court in September 2010. To avoid further persecution, he was forced to leave home. After more than ten years of being tortured, harassed and/or detained, he passed away on December 31st, 2011 at the age of 54.

His wife, Ms. He Chunyan, has also been detained several times for her belief. As a result of being severely persecuted, she suffered a mental collapse that has lasted for about ten years. Every time that Mr. Zhao was arrested or detained, Ms. He's health further deteriorated. She was bedridden, couldn't eat or drink and spoke incoherently. Their son, Zhao Yuan, was still in elementary school when the persecution of Falun Gong began on July 20th, 1999. He witnessed his parents being arrested and their home ransacked. In addition, his classmates and teachers who didn't know the truth about Falun Gong discriminated against him, cursed at and beat him frequently at school. After suffering unjust persecution since a young age, Zhao Yuan was mentally traumatised. He went from being a kind and a smart child who studied hard to someone who physically assaulted his parents when he returned home from school. During the past several years, his behaviour has gotten worse.

Sentenced to Forced Labour After Appealing for the Right to Practise Falun Gong in Beijing

Mr. Zhao and his wife took a tape recorder and a Falun Gong banner to their local practice site as usual on July 24th, 1999, after the persecution of Falun Gong had begun. Ms. He tore down a CCP flyer that announcement the ban of Falun Gong. As a result, the couple was arrested by police from Zhanqian Police Station. Mr. Zhao and Ms. He were detained for 15 days and 25 days respectively.

In late September 1999, Mr. Zhao went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practise Falun Gong. On his way there, the person who sat next to him on the train reported him to the police because he was reading Falun Gong books. Police from the Railroad Police Station arrested him at the station near Beijing. They tied him to the heater pipe and beat him until he lost consciousness. Then, they poured cold water on him to wake him up. They called the Jinzhou Zhanqian Police Station in Dalian and ordered them to take him back. Back at Dalian, Mr. Zhao was held for 15 days.

On November 2nd, 1999, officers from the Zhanqian Police Station arrested Mr. Zhao again and took him to a detention centre. They also ransacked his home. He was sentenced to one year of forced labor and held at the Dalian Forced Labor Camp. There, he suffered beatings, being locked in solitary confinement and was forced to undergo brainwashing sessions when he refused to be “transformed” [forcibly renounce Falun Gong]. When the guards realized they couldn't “transform” Mr. Zhao, they tortured him even more and forced him to do hard labour. Every day, he was forced to carry 600 packages of steamed buns (each package weighing about 110 lbs) and pack 40,000 to 50,000 bricks. He had to carry and deliver the bricks using a handcart for 12 hours a day. At the end of the day, his hands were swollen and he couldn't bend his fingers. Four inmates monitored him. They beat him if he couldn't finish his assigned work. Mr. Zhao's term was illegally extended twice, each time for two months.

In April 2001, Mr. Zhao developed ulcers all over his body. He had to use toilet paper to try to absorb the pus and blood that oozed from the ulcers. However, several layers of paper couldn't help. The inmates who monitored him reported his situation to the group leader. He was then released.

Sentenced to Forced Labour for the Second Time

In April 2002, Mr. Zhao was sentenced to forced labour for the second time. At the time, each police station was given a quota of how many practitioners had to be sentenced to forced labour. Superintendent Fu Caicheng and officers from the Jinzhou Zhanqian Police Station pried open the door to Mr. Zhao's house and ransacked the home. Nothing in their house was left untouched, including the things Mr. Zhao and his wife sold for a living. The police couldn't find anything to use for their so-called “evidence” except for Falun Gong books. They arrested both husband and wife and stole several cartons of the daily items that the couple sold for a living that included tapes of popular songs, blank tapes and children's toys. One policeman even took Ms. He's towel coverlet.

Mr. Zhao Fei was sentenced to one year of forced labour. Ms. He, however, was released two days later because she had heavy vaginal bleeding.

Sentenced to Forced Labour for the Third Time and Severely Persecuted

In summer 2007, Mr. Zhao worked as a guard at a food factory in the Xishan, Dalian Development Zone. He often explained the facts of Falun Gong to the drivers who went to pick up the products at the company and gave them the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party¹. His coworker who believed in the CCP's propaganda of Falun Gong reported him to the police. As a result, officers from the Huanghe Road Police Station arrested and sent him to the Dalian Development Zone Detention Centre. He was later transferred to the Dalian Drug Rehabilitation and Brainwashing Centre. There, he continued to tell people about Falun Gong, protested the persecution and refused to sign the repentance statement. He also shouted, “Falun Gong is good!”

Mr. Zhao was transferred to Masanjia Forced Labour Camp on September 24th, 2007.

At the forced labour camp, in early October 2007, Mr. Zhao shouted loudly, “Falun Gong is good!” in the dining hall to protest the persecution. Group leader Gao Fengcai then locked him in a small cell and tortured him. They cuffed him to an iron chair for 15 days and nights. They used electric batons to shock and beat him. As a result, Mr. Zhao lost feeling in his legs and his lower body became paralysed. The guards told criminal inmates to drag Mr. Zhao to the dining hall whenever it was time for their meals since he couldn't walk. The inmates would beat Mr. Zhao and drag him so forcefully that his legs and feet were severely disfigured and bled a lot.

Once, when Mr. Zhao lost consciousness, Gao Fengcai thought that he was pretending and used electric batons to hit his groin area. When Mr. Zhao's life was in imminent danger, they took him to the Affiliated Hospital of Shenyang Medical University for emergency treatment. The diagnosis showed that he suffered aplastic anaemia, or cancer in the blood. The medical expense was several thousand yuan² per day. Officials at Masanjia Forced Labour Camp tried to transfer the financial burden to Mr. Zhao's family. When they heard that Mr. Zhao's wife and son had both suffered a mental collapse and had no source of income, they made numerous calls to the officials of the local community each day and urged them to pick up Mr. Zhao. Gao Fengcai told the officials who went to pick up Mr. Zhao, “His days are numbered.”

By now Mr. Zhao Fei was on the brink of death and emaciated. He had burn wounds all over his body which seeped blood and pus. The biggest wound was at his tailbone—the skin and flesh were gone and the bone was exposed. The infected area was as the size of a walnut.

Mr. Zhao's entire family lost the ability to work and had to rely on a small security income for a living. Even with the family under such difficulty, CCP officials still constantly harassed them. Mr. Zhao also received several consecutive calls from the court in September 2011 ordering him to go pick up a summons at a designated time, or they would “take action.” Mr. Zhao, already disabled, had to leave home and endure the hardship of an arduous journey. After suffering such severe persecution for more than ten years, Mr. Zhao passed away at around 6:00 p.m. on December 31st, 2011 at the age of 54.

Note

1. Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party: Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party is a series of essays published in late 2004 that reveal the true nature of the Communist Party. The Nine Commentaries have led millions of people to renounce their membership in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). "A book that has shocked all Chinese around the world. A book that is disintegrating the Communist Party." http://ninecommentaries.com

2. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.