(Minghui.org) A Baoding City, Hebei Province resident serving a seven-year term for his faith in Falun Gong is in critical condition after developing myeloma in custody.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
The prison guards attempted to force Mr. Yang Zhixiong’s family to take him home, but his son, who has been deceived by the communist regime’s propaganda against Falun Gong, is reluctant to do so.
Mr. Yang Zhixiong
Arrest and Sentencing
Mr. Yang, 58, a former journalist and real estate sales manager, was stopped at a highway toll station on September 26, 2019 as he forgot to bring his ID with him. The police arrested him and ransacked his home after discovering that he was a Falun Gong practitioner.
After a few days at the Rongcheng Lockup, Mr. Yang was transferred to the Xiong County Detention Center on October 10. He stood trial on December 1, 2020 and was sentenced to seven years. He was taken to the Jidong No. 5 Prison around April 2021 after his appeal was turned down by the higher court.
Becoming Ill in Custody
Because Mr. Yang refuses to renounce Falun Gong, the prison has never allowed him to call his family after he was imprisoned. His family went to the prison once, but were refused visitation by the guards who used the pandemic as the excuse.
Between May and June 2022, the prison called Mr. Yang’s family twice. In the first call, they ordered them to pay 500 yuan for his living expenses, and the second time, they demanded 3,000 yuan to treat his lumbar disc herniation.
The prison called Mr. Yang’s family again in July and said that he had been admitted to the intensive care unit at Tangshan Union (Xiehe) Hospital. This time, his family was allowed to visit him at the hospital.
According to his family, Mr. Yang was emaciated, yet the guards still kept him handcuffed and shackled. The doctor told his family that he was found to have myeloma, or cancer of the plasma cells. As he was extremely weak, they couldn’t operate on him and only gave him blood transfusions and protein drips.
Mr. Yang’s wife, Ms. Qi Hongjin, is still living away from home to avoid being persecuted for their shared faith in Falun Gong. Their son, who has been traumatized by the persecution and deceived by the communist regime’s slanderous propaganda against Falun Gong, is reluctant to bring Mr. Yang home to care for him.
In the past year, at least two Falun Gong practitioners died while serving time at the Jidong No. 5 Prison. Mr. Pan Yingshun, a pharmacy owner, died in July 2021, fourteen months after he was imprisoned to serve a 4.5-year term. Mr. Han Junde passed away in April 2022 while serving an 8.5-year term. Due to abuse in prison, he developed severe anemia, became blind in one eye and eventually lost the ability to walk and was confined to a wheelchair. Both Mr. Pan and Mr. Han were also held at the Tangshan Union Hospital before they died.
Past Persecution
Prior to his latest prison term, Mr. Yang was sentenced to four years after an arrest in June 2003. His wife, Ms. Qi Hongjin, who was arrested at the same time, was given two years of forced labor for practicing Falun Gong. As his employer had fired him when he was released, Mr. Yang had to do odd jobs to make ends meet. In 2008, he was deceived into going to a brainwashing center and held there for a month.
On November 3, 2012, less than one month after he started a new job as a real estate sales manager in Beijing, Mr. Yang was arrested again by Guo Junxue in Beijing and put on trial at the Xiong County Court on December 25. He was sentenced to three years and transferred to the Jidong Prison on January 16, 2013.
In addition to the persecution that Mr. Yang and his wife have suffered, his mother-in-law died as a result of the persecution.
Perpetrators’ contact information:
Zhang Baozhong (张保中), deputy head, Xiong County Domestic Security Office: +86-13803121575Wang Senhu (王森虎), head of prison education department: +86-315-8317463, +86-13832977706Tian (田), prison guard: +86-18831568277
Related reports:
Court Hearing Proves Mr. Yang Zhixiong Is a Good Man
Former Legal Daily Reporter Disappears for Over a Month, Now Faces Sentencing
Mr. Yang Zhixiong's Whereabouts Unknown After His Arrest in Beijing
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