(Minghui.org) A 74-year-old man was arrested in November 2018 for his faith in Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong), a spiritual discipline with the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999. He was later sentenced to four years in prison and subjected to various forms of torture.
Mr. Liu Enxi, a resident of Daqing City, Heilongjiang Province, took up Falun Gong in 1999. The police from Daqing Longgang Police Department arrested him while he was on his way back from dropping off his grandson at school on November 9, 2018. They snatched his home key and raided his home. All of his Falun Gong books and related materials were confiscated.
Mr. Liu was detained in Daqing City First Detention Center. The guards instructed the inmates to force him to renounce his faith every day. On the seventh day, when the inmates tried hard to make him repeat “Communist Party is good,” he responded by shouting repeatedly, “Falun Dafa is good! Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good!”
The loud sound attracted the attention of many prison guards. They dragged Mr. Liu away and hung him up. Two guards sandwiched him, with one in front of him and another behind him. They pushed him back and forth until he passed out. They next pulled the rope to lift him up to the highest point, before suddenly releasing the rope to make him fall to the ground.
After the torture, Mr. Liu was confined in a dark solitary cell for five days. He was not allowed to drink water or use the toilet.
The Ranghulu District Procuratorate approved Mr. Liu’s arrest in mid-December 2018. The prosecutor indicted him on March 29, 2019, and submitted his case to the Ranghulu District Court.
Mr. Liu appeared in court on June 12, 2019. His lawyer entered a not-guilty plea for him.
The prosecution evidence included items confiscated from Mr. Liu’s home. Mr. Liu testified that the officers never provided him with a confiscation list and that he couldn’t verify if all the items listed as evidence against him were actually his.
The lawyer emphasized that no law in China criminalizes Falun Gong or labels it a cult. He also said that while the prosecutor charged his client with “undermining law enforcement with a cult organization,” he didn’t specify what law enforcement was undermined or how it was undermined.
Both Mr. Liu and his lawyer demanded his acquittal. The judge adjourned the hearing without responding to their request. He sentenced Mr. Liu to four years in prison with a fine of 20,000 yuan on August 1, 2019.
Mr. Liu was transferred to the training ward of Hulan Prison on January 14, 2020. The guards didn’t only refuse to provide water to him, but also limited the time of his many daily activities – one minute for washing himself, three minutes for using the restroom and ten minutes for eating.
After Mr. Liu was taken to the main facility of Hulan Prison on June 1, 2020, the prison officials ordered the guards and inmates to work on him every day to force him to give up Falun Gong practice. He never budged.
The prison's top officials came to talk to him a few times in August 2021, hoping to make him give in. He sincerely told them that Falun Gong is a profound spiritual practice with amazing health benefits and that he wouldn’t give it up.
Shortly afterward, the 610 Office agents came to the prison. They summoned Mr. Liu to an empty room and asked him if he still practiced Falun Gong. Mr. Liu firmly answered yes. They swarmed him, punching and kicking him, knocking him to the ground, and beating him up.
After a while, they asked him again and got the same answer. They continued to beat him until he passed out. They grabbed his hand and signed the statement of renouncing Falun Gong for him. They then poured cold water on his head to wake him up and showed him the statement. However, Mr. Liu refused to acknowledge it. The prison guards declared that he renounced Falun Gong and also warned him not to tell anyone about the beating.
In Hulan Prison, the guards ordered Mr. Liu to do all the dirty work, including cleaning the smelly toilets that had not been cleaned for several years. He cleaned the toilets for 15 days without any complaints and restored them to be shining and bright. Some prison guards were touched.
The inmates also bullied him and forced him to be the last one to have meals. He had to eat whatever was left, or sometimes had nothing to eat. However, Mr. Liu always treated the guards and inmates with compassion and told them about the beauty of Falun Gong. The inmates changed their attitude toward him and stopped bullying him.
Mr. Liu was released on November 8, 2022.