(Minghui.org) Ever since the Chinese communist regime launched the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999, a man from Xuchang County, Henan Province, has suffered endless torture and imprisonment for refusing to give up his faith. He is now serving his third term in prison and being tortured. Falun Gong is a self-improvement system that’s been taught in China since 1992.
Having gained good physical and mental health through the practice, Mr. Lu Shunmin refused to give it up and told people why the persecution was wrong. As a result, over the past 20 years he has been arrested three times and wrongfully sentenced to a total of 17 years in prison. He has been beaten, shocked with electric batons, burned and deprived of sleep. He is now being held in Xinmi Prison.
Mr. Lu, 68, used to suffer from spinal disc extrusion, stomach pain, and arthritis. He was unable to do hard labor. After he picked up Falun Gong, his ailments disappeared and he was able to support his family again.
Before his latest arrest, Mr. Lu was imprisoned twice, first for eight years and again for four years. Mr. Lu’s most recent arrest took place on August 1, 2016, when the police arrested him for telling people about the persecution of Falun Gong. The police ransacked his home and put him in Xuchang City Detention Center. He was given little food and had to do intensive labor for 12 hours a day making wigs. If he could not finish his quota, he was whipped with a belt. In the winter, the guards would strip him and pour cold water on him.
In early 2017 the Weidu District Court sentenced him to five years in prison, to be served in Xinmi Prison in Henan Province. Two of the prison guards once used a chair to hold his head against the ground, took off his shirt, and shocked him with electric batons. They even put a baton in his mouth, burning the inside of it and knocking out two of his teeth. They also beat and kicked him.
One night a guard ordered six prisoners to hold Mr. Lu down on the ground. They stood on his shoulders and legs to immobilize him and burned the middle finger on his right hand until it was charred. To conceal the fact that he'd been tortured, the guards wouldn’t let him seek medical treatment. His finger got infected and festered months later.
Mr. Lu was transferred to another ward and a guard designated six prisoners to closely watch and torture him. They verbally abused and physically assaulted him. He was unable to get out of the bed as a result.
When Mr. Lu refused to sign statements to renounce Falun Gong, the prisoners pinched the muscles of his inner thighs and clamped his finger with chopsticks. When the chopsticks broke, they switched to stronger wooden sticks. They took turns keeping Mr. Lu from sleeping for three days. Mr. Lu went on a hunger strike to protest.
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