Mr. Bai Shijun Died Five Years Ago from Torture at Tailai Prison in Heilongjiang Province

Name: Bai Shijun
Gender: Male
Age: 55
Address: Songling District, Daxinganling, Heilongjiang Province
Occupation: Unknown
Date of Death: April 23, 2007
Date of Most Recent Arrest: January 19th, 2005
Most Recent Place of Detention: Tailai Prison
City: Daxinganling
Province: Heilongjiang
Persecution Suffered: Beatings, imprisonment, detention

Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Bai Shijun from Daxinganling, Heilongjiang Province was sentenced to four years in prison. He suffered tortures at the Tailai Prison which resulted in heart disease, renal atrophy and pulmonary inflammation, and his life was in danger. The prison phoned his family on April 24th, 2006 to inform them that he was in critical condition. However, the prison used all kinds of excuses to disallow his release for medical treatment. He was not released until December 2006. Mr. Bai died on April 23rd, 2007 at the age of 55.

Forcibly Taken to Tailai Prison

Mr. Bai Shijun lived in the Songling District of Daxinganling. Prior to cultivating Falun Gong he had severe heart disease. After practising Falun Gong he attained a healthy body. After the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) persecution of Falun Gong started in 1999, Mr. Bai and his wife bravely clarified the facts and told their neighbours and friends about the greatness of Falun Gong. They were severely persecuted by the CCP's judicial organs and were once subjected to forced labour.

Mr. Bai and his wife were reported to the police when they were distributing materials exposing the persecution at Linhai Town, Xinlin District, and were arrested and imprisoned in the Songling Detention Centre.

In October 2005, Mr. Bai and his wife were sentenced to four years in prison by Songling District Court under fabricated charges. Mr. Bai was forcibly taken to the Tailai Prison and imprisoned in the third team of the second brigade in October.

Beatings from police caused rapid deterioration of Mr. Bai's health

Mr. Bai's son Bai Yulong received a call from the Tailai Prison on April 24th, 2006 informing him that Mr. Bai was in very bad condition and that he should be prepared to bail his father out. Bai Yulong went to the prison and saw his father. Mr. Bai was gasping for breath after walking just a few steps and had contracted severe renal atrophy, heart disease and other diseases. He had been tortured to the point that his originally healthy body became swollen.

During the imprisonment, Mr. Bai had a lot of symptoms. He was tortured to the point that he was unable to sleep at night and listless during the daytime. The other inmates reported him to the guards and guard Lin Xiaohai beat Mr. Bao without allowing him to even say a word. Mr. Bao's condition deteriorated rapidly and the prison had to notify his family. When his son Bai Yulong went to the prison, the leader of the third team told Bai Yulong that his father needed to be bailed out for medical treatment and he must submit the exam fee of the forensic doctor as well as the bail amount. He told Bai Yulong to return home and wait for further notice.

After returning from Tailai Prison, Mr. Bai's family members consulted with medical experts and confirmed that renal atrophy is the harbinger of uraemia and there's only a few months survival time for this kind of disease. They became very worried, and day after day passed by and they waited in vain for the prison's notification.

On May 1st, worried about his father's health, Bai Yulong went to the prison. Not only did the prison not submit the application for Bai Shijun's bail out, it once again requested Bai Yulong to return home to wait. On May 8th Bai Yulong and other family members went to the prison once again but were not allowed to see Mr. Bai, citing the reason was that a document from the provincial government said that due to a plague condition, the visit of prison inmates was not allowed. When the family members inquired about Mr. Bai's condition, they were told that Mr. Bai was not treated at a hospital at all, but rather had stayed at the prison.

The prison did not allow bail-out with all kinds of excuses

Besides the “plague” excuse, the prison later said that because Mr. Bai refused to be brainwashed, he was turned down for his bail-out request.

In early May 2006, since hearing no news from the prison, the family members went to the prison once again and met with section chief Liu of the executive section. They asked about the status of their bail-out request. Liu replied, “It's impossible for me to tell you that. Things are done in bunches here so I cannot go out to take care of business just for one person.” From multiple sources it was confirmed that at that time only Mr. Bai qualified for bail-out, and the prison felt it was not a big deal since there was only one person needing the bail-out, so the application had not been submitted to the executive section yet.

The next day, without any other options, the family members went to the political committee of the prison to ask for intervention. Afterwards the relevant units started to handle this case but without progress. Upon multiple inquiries, the family members got different and contradictory responses, such as Mr. Bai had been taken to the hospital, Mr. Bai had been sent back to prison after some recovery, etc. As for the bail-out, it was still in progress.

In June 2006, without receiving any response, the family members went to the prison once again. Section chief Ma of the penalty section told them the bailout procedure was in progress and they should return home to prepare the money for the bailout. The family members told Ma that two out of the three members in Mr. Bai's family were imprisoned, the youngest child did not have a job or income yet, and the family was barely getting by. Also the average income of the region they lived in was among the lowest in China. Upon hearing this, Ma said, “You can go to your residential committee to obtain a report and then we can waive this fee for you. We won't make it difficult for you.”

Finally in June, the relevant provincial offices determined that Mr. Bai qualified for bailout and the procedure had gone through, and Mr. Bai could be released immediately. However, even though the family members called multiple times to ask, the reply from the prison had always been that there's still one more step that's not completed.

On July 14th, 2006 the family members boarded the train heading to Tailai Prison once more. They met the section chief at the executive section who assigned a person with the last name Zhu to answer their questions. Zhu claimed that Mr. Bai had finished his medical evaluation and qualified for the bailout except for one more step, which was to check whether the statement (of giving up cultivation) Mr. Bai made before was his true intention. However, Mr. Bai had been saying that the statements he wrote before were against his free will, and there's nothing wrong with being a good person, and he practiced Falun Gong to improve his health. He stated that since Mr. Bai made those kinds of statements, it was difficult to approve his bailout. After a while, another official with the last name Zhang came and repeated what Zhu had said. Zhang said that Mr. Bai must write five statements to give up and slander Falun Gong, and on top of that, he must submit five thousand yuan¹ as a deposit. His family members said, “We have no means to pay that much money. Besides, you originally had agreed that with a document from the residential committee you could waive or reduce the money, why has it become such a huge sum now?”

He left the world amidst gross injustice

During the eight months from when Mr. Bai was diagnosed with severe diseases in April, to his release in December, his life was in danger every moment. The officials at Tailai Prison denied his bailout with all kinds of excuses and delayed his release time and time again.

Mr. Bai was in critical condition in December 2006 and the Tailai Prison agreed to release him for medical treatment.

Upon returning home, Mr. Bai's condition was grave. Even under this kind of situation the police of Songling District still went to his home to harass him. On April 23rd, 2007, Mr. Bai died.

Multiple Falun Gong practitioners have been tortured to death at the Tailai Prison, and at least three of them are from Qiqihar City. Mr. Pan Benyu from Qiqihar who once saved six people's lives persisted in believing Falun Gong and being a good person. He was sentenced and suffered tortures at Tailai Prison, resulting in abdominal oedema, heart attack, blood vomiting and head swelling. He was very near death several times and died amidst gross injustice on July 17th, 2011. Mr. Pan Hongdong from Qiqihar was tortured to death at Tailai Prison on May 15th, 2005. There were numerous wounds on his corpse, blood on his mouth, ear openings and nostrils. There's a circular wound at his chest and apparent blood marks on his legs and back. Mr. Liang Jinyu from Qiqihar suffered various brutal tortures at Tailai Prison and died with extreme pain at 9:30 a.m. on February 5th, 2010.

It has been five years since Mr. Bai's death, but the crime the CCP officers committed against Falun Gong practitioners won't be washed away by the passing of time. History won't forget the people who help support Falun Gong practitioners in difficult times, nor spare the vicious people who persecute Falun Gong practitioners. We hope all those who are unclear about the situation can come to know the truth about Falun Gong. Please choose to be on the side of justice, kindly treat Falun Gong and practitioners.

Note

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