(Minghui.org)
Name: Wei GuanghuaChinese Name: 卫广华Gender: MaleAge: 62City: TianjinProvince:Occupation: Business professionalDate of Death: December 2023Date of Most Recent Arrest: Around 2018Most Recent Place of Detention: A local detention center
A 62-year-old Tianjin man died days after he had a stroke in December 2023. Mr. Wei Guanghua’s passing capped his decades of suffering amidst the Chinese Communist Party’s persecution of his faith, Falun Gong, a mind-body practice based on the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.
Mr. Wei used to have a high-paying job, and his family was well-to-do. However, he felt lost, and often pondered the purpose of life. He found answers to his questions after he visited a friend and was introduced to Falun Gong. When the friend mentioned the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, he immediately decided to practice Falun Gong.
After the persecution of Falun Gong began in July 1999, Mr. Wei worked with other practitioners to debunk the hate propaganda targetting the practice. He was arrested on May 31, 2003 and sentenced to nine years in prison. His wife divorced him while he was serving time. She was given all their marital assets and full custody of their son and daughter.
Mr. Wei was brutally tortured in prison and became seriously ill and emaciated. Standing at 5’11” he weighed less than 90 pounds. He was then released on medical parole on April 29, 2009. Through doing Falun Gong exercises, he got better but was still unable to walk normally.
The authorities kept Mr. Wei under close surveillance. About six months after he was released, they took him to a hospital for a physical examination to see if he was well enough to be sent back to prison. The hospital suddenly had a power outage right before Mr. Wei’s physical examination and he was thus taken back home. The police threatened to return the next day.
Mr. Wei decided to go into hiding that night. In the years that followed, he moved frequently to avoid being arrested. As a result, he never recovered from the health damage he suffered while in prison, and he developed more symptoms. More than once he suddenly lost consciousness while working or walking.
He fainted again around 2018 while riding his motorcycle. A passerby called the police for help upon seeing that he was badly injured and having a seizure. The police arrested him instead after discovering Falun Gong materials in his bag. They also confiscated the more than 10,000 yuan in banknotes printed with Falun Gong messages he had with him. [Since all legal channels to appeal have been blocked for Falun Gong practitioners, they use creative means to raise awareness of the persecution, including printing messages on banknotes.]
The police took Mr. Wei to a detention center and determined his identity from their database of targeted Falun Gong practitioners. After he came to, they turned him over to the police department in his household registration location in Tianjin. Since the police department couldn’t find a prison to admit him to finish his 9-year term, they declared that he was deemed to have completed his prison sentence.
To avoid being targeted again, Mr. Wei went into hiding a second time. After he reached retirement age a few years later, he was given a meager amount of pension (even though he was entitled to a higher amount due to his previous high-paying job). The displaced life plus financial hardship took a toll on his health. He had a stroke in December 2023 and fell into a coma. Hospital treatments did not help much and his family had to check him out as they could no longer afford to pay the medical bills. He died days later.
Arrested in 2003 and Sentenced to 9 Years
Mr. Wei and a few other practitioners were driving around to distribute Falun Gong informational materials on May 31, 2003 when a few police cruisers surrounded their car and arrested them.
Mr. Wei was held in a metal cage and interrogated at the Hexi District Police Department. He refused to reveal the source of the Falun Gong materials or rat-out any other practitioners. The police later moved him to a detention center affiliated with the police department. He refused to wear the detainees’ uniforms or do hard labor. He persisted in doing Falun Gong exercises. The guards there beat him and shocked him with electric batons.
The police then moved Mr. Wei to a labor camp affiliated with the police department. The labor camp guards put him in a metal cage and turned on an air conditioner to freeze him during the cold weather. Mr. Wei held firm to his faith.
After some time, the police took him back to the police department. Around July 2004, about 14 months into his arrest, Mr. Wei was ordered to stand trial at the Hexi District Court. He refused to go and the police punched and kicked him, leaving bruises everywhere on his body. He was dragged into a cruiser and driven to the courthouse.
The judge ordered him to stand in the defendant’s stand, and he lay down in protest throughout the court proceeding. The judge sentenced him to nine years at the end of the hearing.
Mr. Wei was soon admitted to Division Eight of the Tianjin First Prison.
Tortured at the Tianjin First Prison
In order to force Mr. Wei to renounce Falun Gong, the guards at the Tianjin First Prison used various torture methods on him, including beatings, and shocks with electric batons. They also had several inmates hold him down with his lower legs against a hard stick (see image below). The inmates then swayed him back and forth such that his lower legs rolled against the stick, causing excruciating pain, after which he passed out. The guards instructed the inmates to pour cold water on him. After he came to, they resumed the “rolling” torture. He again fainted and was doused with cold water. The guards repeated the torture several times for hours until the skin on his legs was torn, with the flesh gaping open and bleeding profusely.
Torture illustration: Legs rolled against a stick
Another time, the guards had Mr. Wei’s hands and one of his legs chained to the wall, forcing him to stand on one leg for many days in a row (see image below).
Torture reenactment: Both hands and one leg chained up, standing on the other leg
Guards Wang Bin and Yang Bo put Mr. Wei in solitary confinement on June 22, 2007 after he refused to do hard labor. They shackled his feet to a metal ring anchored on the floor and cuffed his hands to the shackle. At least once every day, the guards also took him out of the confinement cell and dragged him upstairs for interrogation (see image below). As the shackles weighed almost 50 pounds, the daily dragging broke Mr. Wei’s skin and eventually exposed his bones.
Torture illustration: Dragging upstairs with heavy shackles
He went on a hunger strike in protest and was force-fed for more than 100 days. He had stomach cramps and vomited as a result. The long-term vomiting eroded the concrete floor, and pockmarks appeared in some places.
Mr. Wei was force-fed to the point of dying and could not sit up. The prison then took him to Xinsheng Hospital for emergency treatment. After that, they ended his solitary confinement. By then he was almost paralyzed. His right calf and right foot were disabled, his muscles were atrophied, and he could not walk. He could only be supported by other inmates when walking.
Tortured in the Gangbei Prison
Mr. Wei was transferred to the Gangbei Prison in Tianjin on June 30, 2008 without his family’s knowledge.
There were two strict management teams at the time and Mr. Wei was assigned to Team Nine. The team head was named Yang Zhongshui and his deputy was named Song Xuesen. Among the more than 100 detainees were 60-70 Falun Gong practitioners, including Mr. Wei.
The guards at team nine held each practitioner in a separate cell, and 11 inmates monitored Mr. Wei’s every move. He was forced to sit on a small stool from 6 a.m. to 12 a.m. every day. Any slight movement invited beatings from the inmates.
Mr. Wei went on a hunger strike in protest and was brought to the prison clinic for force-feeding. Initially there were three force-feeding sessions every day but the guards soon increased it to five times a day. During each session, Mr. Wei was tied to a bench with his hands cuffed and feet shackled. Four or five inmates held him tight and a doctor inserted a tube to his nostril. The doctor later delegated the tube insertion to the inmates.
When Mr. Wei was not being force-fed, his feet were shackled to a metal ring anchored to the floor and his hands cuffed to the ring. The guards usually had him restrained like this for 10-15 days at a time. They then claimed to give him a break by lifting him up and dropping him to the ground. They also forcibly bent his body, causing excruciating pain. After the “break,” they would impose the same torture for another 10-15 days before giving him another “break.” The torture didn’t stop until about six months later.
Mr. Wei’s health quickly declined and he was on the verge of death. The prison then released him on medical parole on April 29, 2009.
Related Report:
Mr. Wei Guanghua Is on the Verge of Death after Six Years of Imprisonment
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