(Minghui.org)
Name: He JianminChinese Name: 何建民Gender: MaleAge: 70City: HarbinProvince: HeilongjiangOccupation: PharmacistDate of Death: January 21, 2020Date of Most Recent Arrest: November 12, 2019Most Recent Place of Detention: Hulan Prison
A 70-year-old resident of Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province, died on January 21, 2020, while serving a four-year term for his faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Mr. He Jianmin was initially arrested on November 9, 2018, during a police sweep that also netted more than one hundred other local practitioners, including his wife, Ms. Qu Shumin. He was later released on bail and sentenced to a four-year prison term by the Daoli District Court on November 12, 2019. He was immediately taken back into custody after his wrongful conviction and admitted to the Hulan Prison. Barely two months later, he died in the prison. He was two months shy of his 71st birthday.
Mr. He’s passing capped his decades-long suffering for upholding his faith, which he credited for curing his stubborn cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, neurological, and vertebral diseases. He also once reported seeing his character improve as he strove to be a better person following Falun Gong’s principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. A pharmacist by training and an executive of the Harbin City Medicinal Materials Corporation, he turned down many gray-income opportunities and earned respect from his subordinates and supervisors.
Mr. He was repeatedly targeted for his faith after the persecution of Falun Gong began. Prior to his latest ordeal, he was sentenced to seven years following an earlier arrest in 2003. He was later released on parole after he fell in critical condition.
Earliest Arrest
Mr. He went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong on December 18, 2000 and was arrested on Tiananmen Square. He was briefly held at the Tiananmen Police Station and then the Xuanwu District Police Department before being taken to the Chunshu Police Station, where he was held for 26 hours. One officer later collected his fingerprints, and he was then moved to a liaison office. Four officers ordered him to reveal his name and address, and he eventually gave them his home phone number. The police called his family to pick him up in Beijing and extorted 1,000 yuan from them.
Sentenced to Seven Years Following Arrest in 2003
Officer Zhang Liang deceived Mr. He into opening the door at around 3 p.m. on December 30, 2003, by claiming that some officials were paying him a visit.
As soon as Mr. He opened the door, a group of officers broke in, including Fang Chengpu, Hou Tingyi, Yang Yunhui, and Song Mengchun from the Daowai District Police Department, as well as Li Weidong from the Nanma Police Station. The police raided his home without showing a search warrant.
One hour later, officer Zhang led another group of officers and arrested Mr. He’s wife Ms. Qu, at her workplace. They took her back home to verify the confiscated items. They counted each page of Minghui Weekly, a periodical with Falun Gong information, as one separate piece of evidence. Ms. Qu and Mr. He only had about a dozen Minghui Weekly periodicals but Fang wrote “more than 3,800 pieces” on the list of confiscated items. He then forced Ms. Qu to sign the list.
Mr. He was taken to the Daowai District Detention Center after his arrest. On March 1, 2004, officers from the Daowai District Police Department took him to a secret location for a marathon interrogation. Officers Fang, Hou, Song, Yang, Li, Guan, and others split into three shifts and tortured him around the clock. During the 186 hours he was held at the secret location, Mr. He was subjected to various forms of abuse, including sleep deprivation, being restricted in a metal chair, and lying face down with hands cuffed behind his back, and having handcuffs pulled upwards and back stomped (see image below).
Torture illustration: Handcuffs pulled upward and back stomped
The police took Mr. He back to the detention center after seven days. The Daowai District Court sentenced him to seven years in prison on April 30, 2004. He was admitted to a newly built prison on June 9 of that year. He was forced to run laps or squat with his hands over his head for long hours on end. Before each meal and before bed every day, he had to squat in the cafeteria or in his cell.
Mr. He was transferred to the Hulan Prison on September 23, 2004 and put on the strict management team, where five inmates were assigned to watch him around the clock. He was forced to stand, squat, or sit on a small stool for long hours on end, have his ears pinched with metal clips, and recite prison rules. From time to time, he was also deprived of sleep for several days in a row.
In addition to torture, Mr. He was also ordered to do hard labor without pay. One task involved peeling garlic with a metal pick, which caused the skin of his hands to peel off once every few days. The work quota increased several-fold starting in January 2005, and he had to work until midnight every day. He was later forced to sew car backrest accessories, dig trenches, remove threads from old packaging, and perform other chores.
Starting on April 10, 2005, Mr. He was forced to sit on a small stool for more than ten days in a row. He was not allowed to sleep for four full days during that period.
On May 2-4, 2006, the prison got ten people from various places to come and smear Falun Gong and Mr. He. They also summoned his sister, her husband, and their son to the prison to observe how he was being attacked for his faith. Mr. He’s own son, who had been staying with his aunt’s family as his mother was also being jailed for practicing Falun Gong, was also ordered to come.
The four family members of Mr. He’s were terrified at what they saw. Mr. He’s brother-in-law fell ill as a result.
The prison forcibly took Mr. He to the prison hospital on November 13, 2008, on the grounds that he was running a fever. His temperature returned to normal that night and the doctors cleared him to be discharged the next morning. Prison instructor Lyu Ning, however, insisted the next morning that Mr. He be given another x-ray. He then forced the hospital to move Mr. He to the infectious disease department to treat his “tuberculosis” even though he did not have the condition.
Mr. He was given six bottles of IV drip solution every day and a small bottle of unknown drugs. His health quickly declined. The hospital issued a critical condition notice and the prison released him on medical parole on December 5, 2008 at his family’s request.
More Persecution Episodes Preceding Second Prison Sentence
On December 29, 2010, Sun Xide (head of the local 610 Office), and deputy chief Huo Xiaobo of the Nanma Police Station, stopped the Hulan Prison from issuing a prison release certificate for Mr. He. The prison also refused to return the 5,000 yuan that his family was forced to pay when they picked him up from the hospital. The reason given was that he did not write statements to renounce Falun Gong.
Mr. He was arrested on December 31, 2011, while visiting a friend in Xiangfang District. The police kept him at the Xiangfang District Detention Center for 22 days.
Officers from the Nanma Police Station raided Mr. He’s home on November 8, 2012 and confiscated his Falun Gong books.
After another arrest on November 9, 2018, Mr. He was sentenced to a four-year prison term and died two months after being admitted to the prison.
Related Article in Chinese:
Related Report:
119 Falun Gong Practitioners Arrested in Two Heilongjiang Province Cities in One Day
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