(Minghui.org) Mr. Du Guofang from Shenze County, Hebei Province, has been denied all forms of communication with his family since he was sent to prison on October 17, 2023 to serve a three-year term for practicing Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Mr. Du was arrested during a police sweep on January 11, 2022 and stood trial at the Jinzhou City Court on April 4, 2023. His conviction was confirmed on June 9, 2023. Both Jinzhou City and Shenze County are under the administration of Shijiazhuang, the capital city of Hebei Province.
Mr. Du was transferred from the Jinzhou City Detention Center to the Jidong Branch of the Hebei Province Prison Administration Bureau on October 17, 2023. There are eight prisons within the Jidong Branch and they are all located in Tangshan City. It’s unclear which prison Mr. Du is being held at.
According to Article 20 of China’s Prison Law, the prison should mail out a written notice to Mr. Du’s family within five days of his prison admission. However, his wife still had not received a prison admission notice as of October 30, 2023, despite her numerous phone calls to the Jidong Branch. She then submitted an online request to the provincial judicial bureau, urging the agency to order the Jidong Branch to fulfill its obligation to issue a formal prison admission notice.
She received a call on November 2, 2023, and the caller said he was director Wang of the Jidong Branch’s Prison Affairs Department. He promised that they would not discriminate Mr. Du for practicing Falun Gong and promised to arrange a family visit in one month.
Mr. Du’s wife called Wang on December 1 to inquire when she could visit her husband but was told that Mr. Du was not allowed to see, call, or write to his family because he did not renounce Falun Gong as ordered. Wang did not explain why he broke his promise to not discriminate Mr. Du based on his spiritual belief. By law, all prisoners are entitled to communication with their families.
All eight Jidong Branch prisons have strict management teams designated to hold steadfast Falun Gong practitioners. Usually newly sentenced practitioners are admitted to the Jidong Branch Fourth Prison and held there for up to one month before being assigned to one of seven other prisons. They are held in the strict management teams until they buckle under pressure and agree to renounce Falun Gong. While under strict management, the practitioners are denied all forms of communication with their families.
Mr. Du is likely held at the Jidong Branch Fourth Prison but his wife is not 100% sure since she did not receive his prison admission notice. Not knowing where he is or how he is doing, she is very concerned about his safety and well-being, especially since at least 36 other practitioners have died as a result of torture they suffered while jailed at the Jidong Branch prisons. An insider once revealed that each prison had a yearly death quota, meaning that the guards would not be held responsible if the number of practitioners tortured to death did not exceed the quota.
Related reports:
Six Falun Gong Practitioners Persecuted to Death by Jidong Prison in Hebei Province Since 2022
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