(Minghui.org) When an 88-year-old resident of Yushu City, Jilin Province was finally released from prison on August 5, 2023, he was carried outside on a guard’s back. Mr. Xu Jingchao’s family was heartbroken to see him on the verge of death and unable to talk or recognize them.
Mr. Xu’s family immediately drove him to a major hospital but was turned away as he was deemed “no hope to survive.” They tried a few other big hospitals in the region with no luck. [Note: China does not have a law that bars hospitals with emergency departments from turning away patients.]
Mr. Xu’s family finally got a small hospital to examine him. The doctor there gave the dying man a few injections without admitting him. His loved ones were warned that he might not even make it back home.
Fortunately, Mr. Xu survived and later recovered well enough to care for himself. He, however, still cannot recall what he went through in prison that resulted in his health crisis. He also gets confused from time to time.
Mr. Xu was jailed simply because he refused to renounce Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999. He was initially arrested on October 8, 2018, and stood trial at the Yushu City Court on November 16, 2018, before being sentenced to 2.5 years with 3 years’ probation on January 23, 2019. He was taken back into custody on December 2, 2019, after the police accused him of violating probation conditions.
Mr. Xu was admitted to the Gongzhuling Prison in Changchun (capital city of Jilin Province) around mid-January 2020 and sent straight to the in-house hospital. His term was set to expire in June 2021, but the authorities kept extending it with no valid reason.
As his health worsened, the prison notified the Yushu City Political and Legal Affairs Committee and the Yushu City Judicial Bureau in the summer of 2022 that they intended to release him because they did not want him to die in custody. However, the two agencies refused to sign the release form. It wasn’t until August 2023 that they finally approved the prison’s request and tasked the Heilinzi Town Judicial Bureau with notifying Mr. Xu’s family to pick him up on August 5 that year. His family waited outside the prison for more than two hours before seeing him carried outside on the verge of death. By then, he had been jailed for a total of three years and eight months – 14 months longer than his initial 2.5-year term.
Mr. Xu took up Falun Gong in 1997. He credits the practice for curing his high blood pressure and other ailments, but he was targeted for holding firm to his faith. Prior to his imprisonment, Mr. Xu had been sent to a brainwashing center following an arrest on July 11, 2010, for his faith. The authorities also harassed him at home shortly before his 2018 arrest.
Related Reports:
85-year-old Man Jailed for His Faith, Family Not Told His Whereabouts
Ten Falun Gong Practitioners Held at Yushu Detention Center, Facing Prosecution
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