(Minghui.org) Mr. Kong Xiangzhu of Shuangyashan City, Heilongjiang Province, was arrested on May 1, 2002, for tapping into a TV broadcast to play videos that debunked the Chinese Communist Party’s slanderous propaganda about Falun Gong. He was sentenced to eight years and subjected to relentless torture in Mudanjiang Prison. He was released on April 18, 2007, and passed away two months later on June 23. He was 39.
After the Chinese communist regime began to persecute Falun Gong in July 1999, the regime spread slanderous propaganda about practitioners of the peaceful mind-body practice. With no legal channels to appeal, practitioners in Chongqing first tapped into their local TV cable in 2001 and played videos to expose the persecution. Their courageous act inspired other practitioners across the country. Between 2001 and 2005, at least 129 practitioners were arrested for intercepting TV signals in China. More than 85% of them were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 3 to 20 years, with an average of 12.5 years.
Mr. Kong Xiangzhu
Mr. Kong intercepted a TV signal in late April 2002 during the evening primetime news. For about 20 minutes, he played videos that exposed the Tiananmen self-immolation hoax and explained how Falun Gong benefited society by helping people to stay fit and improve their morality.
The interception took place at the intersection of Dongping Road and Wuma Road in the Jianshan District. People who got their signals from the Shuangyashan TV Station saw the videos.
According to Mr. Kong’s father, after he successfully finished intercepting the signal the first time, he returned to that location on the evening of May 1, 2002, to retrieve his device, planning to do the same thing in other locations. Unfortunately, the police who were staked out there arrested him. He was taken to the Jianshan District Police Station, where chief Ling Qingfan and officers Ling Dawei, Li Hongbo, Du Zhanyi, and Liu Weiguo tortured him brutally. They even poked a hole in his abdomen with a sharp metal tool. The hole was so large that his intestines slipped out. But no matter how the police tortured him, he didn’t reveal any information about other practitioners who’d helped with the interception.
The police notified Mr. Kong’s family the next day that he had been taken to the hospital for emergency care. When his family got the hospital, he was being operated on. His body was covered in bruises. His entire back was covered with burn marks from electric shocks. The flesh on his neck had come away from the bone. Regarding the hole on his abdomen, the police claimed that he stabbed himself with an awl.
For a period of time, Mr. Kong was mentally confused and unable to talk clearly. His family suspected that the police had drugged him.
The police kept Mr. Kong handcuffed after the surgery. He was left naked except for a pair of underwear. Six days after the surgery, before the stitches were removed, the police shackled him and fastened the shackles to the end of the bed so that he was unable to turn over. Only a day after the nurse removed the stitches, the police transferred him to a detention center.
Mr. Kong was tried in the Jianshan District Court on September 3, 2002. He showed his scars from the operation to prove that the police had tortured him. The judge sentenced him to eight years.
In June 2006, after nearly four years at the Mudanjiang Prison, he developed tuberculous meningitis. He remained in a coma and was in critical condition. Although the prison took him to the hospital, his condition continued to deteriorate. In July 2006, he was unable to move from his waist down. He also became incontinent and remained mentally confused.
His family applied for medical parole for him, but the prison did not release him until April 17, 2007, 10 months later, after extorting 5,000 yuan from his family. By then, he was emaciated, unconscious, and extremely weak. He died two months later on June 23, 2007.
Related Reports:
Mr. Kong Xiangzhu Subjected to Torture at Mudanjiang Prison Before His Death
Mr. Kong Xiangzhu from Heilongjiang Province Tortured to Death (Photo)
Mudanjiang City Prison Guards Persecute Falun Dafa Practitioner Kong Xiangzhu to the Brink of Death
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