(Minghui.org) Mr. Chen Wenduo began to experience heart failure in November 2020. He had difficulty breathing, had generalized edema and was unable to sleep. After struggling with the condition for three months, he passed away on January 23, 2021. He was 52.
Mr. Chen’s death put a tragic end to the two-decades-long persecution he had suffered for upholding his faith in Falun Gong, an ancient spiritual discipline that has been targeted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Mr. Chen and his wife Ms. Liu Dan were middle school teachers in Yingkou City, Liaoning Province. Both of them took up Falun Gong in April 1997. With the onset of the persecution two years later, they were subjected to multiple arrests and detention. Mr. Chen was given labor camp terms and prison terms. He began to experience a heart condition and insomnia after being forced to take an unknown drug at the Dalian Prison. He continued to suffer ill health after being released on November 14, 2016, and died five years later.
Onset of the Persecution
One day after the communist regime ordered the persecution on July 20, 1999, Mr. Chen and Ms. Liu went to the provincial government to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong.
While the couple were away, Chen Xingguo, an officer from the Haixing Police Station, went to their home at night, broke down the door, and terrified the couple’s parents and young daughter. The police later left, only to return the next morning and confiscate the couple’s Falun Gong books, audiotapes, videotapes and photo of Falun Gong’s founder.
Both Mr. Chen and Ms. Liu were arrested and brought to the police station and held there until 3 p.m. A week later, the police ordered them to report to them every day.
Officers Chen and Chai Xia went to the couple’s home again on the evening of October 19 and ordered them to go to the police station to answer some questions. The couple went there, only to be taken to the lockup at around 1 a.m.
Upon hearing about the couple’s arrest, their family members, friends and students went to the lockup to demand their release. The police instead blamed the couple for “not fulfilling their responsibility to care for their family.” Ms. Liu was later released after 15 days of detention and Mr. Chen was kept in custody longer.
One-year Labor Camp Term
Shi Jingfu and Hong Jingshan of the Haibin Police Station harassed Mr. Chen twice in early July 2000 and arrested him and Ms. Liu on July 8, after deceiving them into going to the police station again.
When Mr. Chen’s family went to the lockup to visit him, the guards didn’t allow him to talk and brought him back to the cell soon. His mother argued with the police and said the couple’s detention left their daughter in a dire situation. Zhang Xingyuan, the deputy head of the police station, responded, “You can go anywhere you like to file a complaint! And I don’t care how you handle their daughter. It’s not our business.”
At the lockup, the police interrogated the couple several times. Officer Wang Hongkui attempted to extort 10,000 yuan from their family, but they refused to comply. In the end, the police gave Mr. Chen one year of forced labor, accusing him of delivering Falun Gong teachings to other practitioners. Ms. Liu was released after 40 days of detention, after being forced to pay a 10,000-yuan fine.
Fired by the School and Forced into Displacement
The Political and Legal Affairs Committee of Bayuquan District ordered the couple to attend a brainwashing session in January 2002. To avoid the persecution, they lived away from home for over a month.
Shortly after the couple returned, Hua Ning of the Haibin Police Station came to harass them again in April 2002. As Mr. Chen wasn’t home, Ms. Liu didn’t open the door for the police.
Hua returned on the evening of April 24 and said the police chief was looking for Mr. Chen. He told Mr. Chen to go with him to the police station, saying that it would only take him 20 minutes to answer some questions and his evening classes wouldn’t be affected.
Mr. Chen believed him and went to the police station, only to realize that he’d been deceived again. Zhang Yuanxing, the police chief, signed his third detention notice. When Mr. Chen asked him what law he had violated, Zhang responded, “We don’t have to follow the law when it comes to Falun Gong cases.”
This time, Mr. Chen was detained for 1.5 months and extorted for 5,000 yuan. At the same time, Zhang also pressured the local education bureau to stop the couple from teaching and transfer them to other positions.
Officer Hua called Mr. Chen again in July 2002 after he was released and ordered him and his wife to attend the brainwashing session. To avoid the persecution, the couple were forced to live away from home. Their workplace also fired them.
Three-year Prison Sentence
Mr. Chen’s latest arrest was on November 13, 2013, carried out by Hui Huaiqi of the Bayuquan Domestic Security Office. The police hired a locksmith to break into Mr. Chen’s residence. Both Mr. Chen and his younger brother, Mr. Chen Wenhao, were arrested. While the younger Mr. Chen was released a month later, Mr. Chen Wenduo remained in custody.
Despite Mr. Chen’s extremely high blood pressure, the Bayuquan Detention Center refused to release him. He was later sentenced to three years and transferred to the Dalian City Prison in August 2014.
The prison denied Mr. Chen medical parole despite his high blood pressure. The guards instead secretly put drugs into his food and forced him to take it. He began to experience a serious heart condition after that.
Three months before Mr. Chen was released, an inmate gave him a cup of tea. That night, he began to suffer insomnia and cardiac arrest. The symptoms lasted for months and only began to alleviate after he was released. But he still couldn’t fall asleep at night and could only sleep for a very short period of time in the early morning each day.
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