(Minghui.org) Having gone through repeated arrests, harassment and eleven years of incarceration for his faith in Falun Gong, a Weifang City, Shandong Province resident has been arrested again for his belief and is facing trial.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is an ancient spiritual and meditation discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Mr. Chu Liwen
Mr. Chu Liwen, 64, was arrested with his son, Mr. Chu Qinghua, on September 22, 2019. The police ransacked their home and confiscated personal items valued at 20,000 yuan. Mr. Chu Liwen has since been detained at the Weifang City Detention Center. His son was released on bail on September 23, after he was denied admission due to a medical condition.
The Fangzi District Procuratorate approved the elder Mr. Chu’s arrest in early November and indicted him in March 2020. When his lawyer reviewed his case document in the court, he noticed that the younger Mr. Chu’s case had also been transferred to the court.
Although the Fangzi District Court has returned the elder Mr. Chu’s case twice due to insufficient evidence, the police refused to release him and still attempted to pressure the judge into sentencing him.
The case status of the younger Mr. Chu isn’t clear at the time of writing.
Beaten and Humiliated for Speaking Out for His Faith
Since the persecution of Falun Gong was launched on July 20, 1999, Mr. Chu Liwen has been subjected to multiple arrests and detentions, as well as several labor camp and prison terms, during which he suffered inhuman treatment and torture.
Mr. Chu was arrested by officers from the Taibaozhuang Police Station on July 18, 1999, as part of a nationwide arrest of coordinators for various regional Falun Gong groups. He was released toward the end of July.
He went to Beijing to speak out for Falun Gong on October 14, 1999. As he returned to his hometown, he was arrested by the local police on October 17. He was handcuffed to a chair with his arms behind his back for eleven days at the police station, and was slapped in the face repeatedly.
Torture reenactment: handcuffed to a chair
The police paraded Mr. Chu through the streets around town to publicly humiliate him. Then he was locked up at the local detention center for a month, after which the police took him back to the police station for another month's detention.
Tortured at the Wangcun Labor Camp
Mr. Chu was arrested on February 2, 2000 and taken to the local detention center, where he was handcuffed to a tree in the cold, handcuffed with his arms behind his back to a chair, and shackled. A month later, he was held at the police station until April 14, when he was transferred to Wangcun Labor Camp to serve a three-year term.
Mr. Chu went on a hunger strike to protest the maltreatment and was force-fed. He was also forced to do hard labor, including construction work. While held in the First Unit of Team 3, with a guard's approval, an inmate stomped on his chest. The attack caused Mr. Chu to be out of breath for a long time.
Torture reenactment: stomp attack
Around the 2000 Chinese New Year, a guard took Mr. Chu to the third floor, stripped off his clothes, handcuffed him to a window frame, and opened the windows and door to the freezing cold. The torture went on from 10 p.m. until 4 a.m. and was resumed two days in a row. On the third day, he was not handcuffed but was left in the cold until 3 a.m.
When Mr. Chu was transferred to Team 9, an inmate pricked the soles of his feet with steel needles, causing his feet to bleed. He had blood in his shoes. The inmate then pushed him to the floor and stomped on his arms.
On August 24, 2001, Mr. Chu was transferred to Zhangqiu Labor Camp in Shandong Province. A campaign to coerce him into giving up his practice of Falun Gong started on September 6. He was forced to sit on a small bench and face the wall in a damp and dingy cell 24 hours a day without sleeping for seven consecutive days and nights.
The guards forced Mr. Chu to sit in the lotus position with both legs crossed and then tied up his legs, with his arms tied behind him. He was left in this position for several days and only let loose temporarily to eat or use the toilet. As he continued to refuse to give in, the guards handcuffed one of his arms to the top of a bunkbed and the other arm to the bottom bunk of another bed. In this position he could neither stand up straight nor sit down. This torture lasted for eight days, during which time he was not allowed to use the toilet.
While confined in the isolation cell, Mr. Chu was also subjected to other forms of inhuman treatment. The guards forced him to sit on a small bench for extended periods of time, struck his shins with a wooden chair, beat him so savagely that his left eardrum was ruptured and his teeth were broken, and also struck his head with a hard plastic shoe sole, causing his head to bleed.
He was released on April 3, 2003.
Shackled and Beaten at the Detention Center
Mr. Chu was arrested again on August 18, 2003 and locked up in a metal cage at the Taibaozhuang Police Station. Then he was handcuffed to a metal chair during an interrogation before being transferred to the detention center.
During his detention, the guards beat him with a leather rod, then handcuffed and shackled his limbs together and beat him savagely. The torture continued for months until November 18, 2003 when he was sentenced to five years in prison.
Inhuman Treatment at Northern Weifang City Prison
Mr. Chu was sent to Northern Weifang City Prison on December 24, 2003 to serve his term. Every few days, the guards shocked him all over his body with electric batons. During the brainwashing sessions, inmates beat him and choked him until he passed out.
He was transferred to the Sixth Ward on March 12, 2004. Two days later, he was stripped of his clothes and handcuffed with his arms behind his back to a tree, while guards shocked him with five electric batons over his entire body until they ran out of power. His face was disfigured and his skin was severely blistered as a result.
Mr. Chu was locked up in solitary confinement on August 18, 2004. The guards instigated inmates to pour water over his body, ration his food, deprive him of sleep by forcing him to stand, and strip off his clothes to expose him to mosquitoes. His body was soon covered in painful mosquito bites.
Several guards frequently came to the solitary cell to shock Mr. Chu with electric batons. He was once shocked on his neck until the skin was burned. He was shocked again by three guards on December 19, 2006.
Mr. Chu was transferred to a solitary cell in the First Ward on October 20, 2004. In the morning, the guards shocked him with four batons while he was handcuffed to a chair with his arms behind his back. Inmates forced him to sit on a bed plank in his underwear for extended periods of time. At night he was tied to the metal bed frame while inmates took turns pouring cold and hot water alternately over him until dawn.
Such torture continued for days, yet Mr. Chu refused to renounce his belief. An inmate forced him onto a bed frame with sharp-edged metal bars facing up, then stomped on his shins. The flesh on his calves was lacerated and bled profusely. The inmate went on to prick his thighs with a hypodermic needle.
On February 5, 2006, Mr. Chu was beaten with a bamboo stick until his left eardrum was ruptured a second time.
Continued Persecution
After Mr. Chu was released on August 17, 2008, he was taken to a brainwashing center in Weifang City that same day, where he was handcuffed to a radiator and beaten. That night he was taken to the local police station and handcuffed to a chair. The next day he was taken to the local middle school and ordered to give up his practice of Falun Gong. Later he was transferred to the village committee office. He was tied up with ropes that cut into his flesh, then he was handcuffed to a chair at the local police station, a hood was placed over his head, and he was beaten by a group of people.
On September 5, 2008, Mr. Chu was arrested and detained at the Shandong Province No. 2 Labor Camp for a one-year term. He had symptoms of severe illness after twenty days in the labor camp and was released on bail for medical treatment on September 25.
More Detention and Another Labor Camp Term
Mr. Chu was arrested again on December 15, 2011 and detained at the Weifang City Detention Center for five days.
He was arrested one more time on June 11, 2012 and given one year in a labor camp, the Shandong Province No. 2 Labor Camp.
Related reports:
Talking about My Father, Chu Liwen
The Persecution of Mr. Chu Liwen and His Son, Chu Qinghua
Related article in Chinese:
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