(Minghui.org) When Mr. Sun Pinghua was released after three years of wrongful imprisonment on September 21, 2018, his wife was mentally and physically exhausted. While he was imprisoned, she'd had to care for their school-age daughter as well as his paralyzed father and elderly mother on her own.
He was also in poor health. He had lost almost 90 lbs due to torture, which included sleep deprivation. He was pale, and his skin hung on him due to the extreme weight loss. His back was bent from hours of squatting each day. During his three years in prison, his family was never allowed to visit him.
The 46-year-old resident of Yueyang City was imprisoned because he filed a criminal complaint in 2015 against Jiang Zemin, the former Chinese dictator, for initiating the persecution of Falun Gong.
Arm Crippled a Decade Ago
Mr. Sun was first arrested in Beijing on December 23, 2000, for appealing for the right to practice Falun Gong. He was released in April 2001. His second arrest came 37 days later, and he was held for six months. Because he refused to renounce Falun Gong, his employer didn't allow him to return to work until October 2002.
He was arrested a third time on March 18, 2008, and held for six months. While in detention, he was tortured. At one point, the police pulled one of his arms over his shoulder and cuffed it to the other arm twisted behind his back. By the time the handcuff was removed, he had lost feeling in one of his arms and was disabled.
Torture illustration: Hands cuffed behind the back
Sentenced to Prison for Seeking Justice
Wanting justice for his past suffering, Mr. Sun filed a lawsuit in 2015 against Jiang Zemin, and the authorities retaliated. They arrested him on the morning of September 22, 2015, when he was driving to work. They confiscated his belongings and his keys, ransacked his place, and confiscated his Falun Gong books and banners. The items were used as evidence against him at his trial.
Mr. Sun was detained that night and a case was filed against him with the local procuratorate. He was transferred to the Yueyang City Detention Center in December and denied family visits.
He was sentenced to three years in prison on July 15, 2016. He filed an appeal with the Yueyang City Intermediate Court, which upheld the original sentence. Not giving up, Mr. Sun appealed to the Hunan Provincial High Court three times but received no response. He was taken to Wangling Prison in Zhuzhou on November 30, 2016.
Tortured in Prison
In February 2018, Mr. Sun refused to squat down when a guard ordered him to. The guard punched him in the head several times. Other guards and prisoners held Mr. Sun down and the guard jumped on his back.
The guards posted slogans slandering Falun Gong on the walls in Mr. Sun’s cell and on his bed. He was brutally beaten after he tore the slogans off the wall.
A guard ordered an inmate to wake Mr. Sun up every hour after midnight. When Mr. Sun refused to watch videos slandering Falun Gong and did not write a statement that he would renounce his belief, a guard ordered inmates to torture him.
To force him to give up his faith, the authorities decided to deprive him of sleep. He was allowed to sleep only one hour in every 48 one April. He also had to stand or squat for more than 22 hours a day and was denied water and use of the toilet for a week. After that he was allowed to sleep between one and four hours each day.
One summer, Mr. Sun wasn’t allowed to use the toilet and ended up soiling himself. He was not allowed to take a shower and wash his pants until the next day. Another time in the summer he wasn’t allowed to wash for three weeks.
A guard ordered two prisoners to slap Mr. Sun's face for half an hour. Mr. Sun lost two teeth.
Mr. Sun often vomited blood after being tortured. Not trusting the authorities, Mr. Sun refused to take the drugs they tried to give him. They didn’t want him to die in prison so they eventually had to let up on the torture.
Before his release, the authorities let him sleep regular hours to prevent anyone from accusing them of physical abuse.
Background
In 1999, Jiang Zemin, as head of the Chinese Communist Party, overrode other Politburo standing committee members and launched the violent suppression of Falun Gong.
The persecution has led to the deaths of many Falun Gong practitioners over the past 19 years. More have been tortured for their belief and even killed for their organs. Jiang Zemin is directly responsible for the inception and continuation of the brutal persecution.
Under his personal direction, the Chinese Communist Party established an extralegal security organ, the “610 Office,” on June 10, 1999. The organization overrides police forces and the judicial system in carrying out Jiang's directive regarding Falun Gong: to ruin their reputations, cut off their financial resources, and destroy them physically.
Chinese law allows citizens to be plaintiffs in criminal cases, and many practitioners are now exercising that right to file criminal complaints against the former dictator.
Related reports:
Crippled from Torture, Falun Gong Practitioner Seeks Justice But Is Arrested and Sent to Court
Crippled by Police Torture: Mr. Sun Pinghua of Yueyang City, Hunan Province
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