(Minghui.org) A 60-year-old Jinzhou City, Liaoning Province, resident stood trial on February 18, 2025, for his faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Mr. Miao Jianguo, a former electrician at the Jinzhou Railroad Bureau East Section, was arrested on August 21, 2024, and detained at the Jinzhou City Detention Center. Due to police threats, his family didn’t hire a lawyer for him. Details about his hearing aren’t available yet.
Mr. Miao began to practice Falun Gong in 1995. As he remained firm in his faith since the onset of the persecution in 1999, he was repeatedly targeted. He served a 3-year labor camp term and two prison terms of 4 and 1.5 years, respectively. Following his arrest in 2001, his eight-month pregnant wife, also a Falun Gong practitioner, was so distressed that she suffered placental abruption, resulting in the unborn child’s death. She was never able to carry a baby again. She passed away in 2022, after enduring years of persecution, while Mr. Miao was still detained.
Mr. Miao now struggles with tremendous financial difficulty, as he was fired by his employer in 2002 and is unable to apply for his pension.
Below is Mr. Miao’s own account of the persecution he has endured over the years.
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Between July 23 and August 1, 1999, while I was on vacation, the Party secretary, Guo Yunchang, and director Xiao Xingren of the Jinzhou Railroad Bureau forced me to return to work to attend a brainwashing session.
On October 26, 1999, Guo and Xiao ordered another brainwashing session of me and other Falun Gong practitioners working at the bureau. Huang Shihui, the security head, said to us, “I knew from long ago that Falun Gong would become a political issue, and our security department has to straighten you out.” When the brainwashing session ended two weeks later, the police talked to us one by one and threatened us that we would face serious consequences if we didn’t renounce Falun Gong.
The bureau summoned all practitioners working there one night in December 1999 and ordered us to write a statement to renounce Falun Gong. I refused to comply and returned home. In the middle of the night, a group of officers broke into my home and questioned me as to why I left without asking for their permission.
Because I refused to renounce Falun Gong, I was arrested in May 2000 and detained at the Zhengda Police Station for a day. The police took turns interrogating me and threatening me.
The bureau held another brainwashing session in June 2000, and we were detained again. My father worried about me so much that he fell ill. My family approached Party secretary Guo and requested my release. Guo and his subordinates went to my home to confirm my father’s situation before allowing me to take him to the hospital. They also arranged officer Li Jiuchun to follow me to the hospital.
In the summer of 2001, the new director, Nie Xing, and secretary Li Jingfa received letters from a practitioner urging them not to persecute Falun Gong, and they suspected me of sending it. Back then, my wife, Ms. Wei Yuqin, was already eight months pregnant. Several community staffers came to my home on September 7 and asked for my wife’s due date. She told them it was November. At 11:30 that night, a group of police officers broke into my home and attempted to arrest me. My 77-year-old father, who was living with us, was so terrified that he passed out. Only then did the police leave. They ordered me to report to the police station; I didn’t comply.
I was seized at work ten days later, on September 17, and held at the Jinzhou City Second Detention Center for 12 days. In early October 2001, my wife suffered a placental abruption due to mental distress, and our unborn baby died. If the baby had survived, he or she would have been over 20 years old now, and I wouldn’t have been so lonely.
I was arrested again on June 26, 2002, and held at the Linghe District Brainwashing Center until July 10 of that year. Zhang Shifan of the railway bureau 610 Office branch was assigned to watch me. Meanwhile, my wife was also arrested while working at the railroad clothing factory and taken to a brainwashing center. With both of us detained, my parents, who were in their 70s, were left at home with no one to care for them. My workplace also suspended my salary during that time and only gave me 200 yuan each month to cover the most basic living expenses.
On the evening of July 21, 2002, the day before the Jinzhou City 610 Office’s new brainwashing session started, my manager Liu Ximing came to my home and demanded that I return to work the next day, despite the fact that I had been on a sick leave to recover from the persecution I sustained in the past few years. He ordered me to provide a doctor’s note or I must go back to work.
When I went to my workplace the next day to apply for an extension of my sick leave, the security director Pang Qiang called the police. Before long, Zu Lijun of the Zhengda Street Committee and Lyu Dong, the deputy secretary of the Linghe District Political and Legal Affairs Committee, arrived. They and Pang tried to push me into a car. As I resisted, I hit and scratched my head hard against the bumper.
Several police officers, including Huo Zhigang of the Linghe Police Department, Ding Tongliang, and Miao Zhihong of the Zhengda Police Station, came shortly after. They tied me up, threw me in the car, and took me to the Jinzhou City Second Detention Center. I was given a three-year labor camp term a month later and transferred to the Jinzhou City Forced Labor Camp.
The railroad bureau informed my sister in November 2002 that I was fired from my job. My family was also extorted 7,000 yuan after I was released on medical parole, as I suffered severe medical conditions due to torture in custody.
Not long after, some local practitioners played videos to debunk the slanderous propaganda against Falun Gong in a residential area. To close the case quickly, the police accused me of doing it. They raided my home and took away some electric wires, the heating component of my water heater, a photo of Falun Gong’s founder, and some tapes.
To avoid further persecution, I left home and went into hiding. I was arrested again in the summer of 2004 and taken back to the labor camp, with my term extended by two months. I was finally released on February 15, 2007.
A few months following my release, I went with several practitioners who were also fired by the railroad bureau to talk to director Xu Zhijian. Xu rejected our requests to have our jobs reinstated and reported us to the police.
I was arrested at home again on February 25, 2008, by officers from the Linghe District Domestic Security Division. I was again held at the Jinzhou City Second Detention Center. In August 2008, I was sentenced to four years by the Linghe District Court. I was first taken to the new admission division at Nanshan Prison and then transferred to the first division at Dongling Prison.
The guards at Dongling Prison arranged for inmates to monitor me around the clock. I was forced to work during the day and then sit on a small stool motionless in the evening. My health quickly deteriorated, and my body was covered with scabies.
During my detention, my mother was grief-stricken, and she died on January 28, 2009, the third day of the Chinese New Year. I couldn’t stop crying when I heard the news.
When it rains, it pours. In early 2010, my wife suffered a bone fracture in her leg. In March 2011, my father died from a car accident. When I was finally released on February 24, 2012, not knowing about my father’s passing, I was looking for him everywhere in the house. Then my brother asked me not to look anymore. I collapsed into a chair, with tears rolling down my cheeks. It was the biggest pity not to see my parents for the last time when they died.
I took a train on July 13, 2018, to visit my sister for her birthday. I was stopped at the ticket gate and searched. Upon finding some paper currency printed with information about Falun Gong on my person, the police at the Jinzhou City Train Station arrested me. They took my key, raided my home, and held me at the Jinzhou City Lockup for ten days.
My next arrest was on July 21, 2021, at home. As my wife had suffered a stroke in March 2021 and became incapacitated, the police released me after five days.
I was arrested again on February 21, 2022. The Linghai City Court later sentenced me to 1.5 years with a 3,000-yuan fine. The court garnished my bank account to pay the fine without my knowledge.
I was first taken to the new admission division at Panjin Prison on February 15, 2023, and then to the Nanshan Prison on March 1. On March 15, I was transferred to the 12th division. In order to force me to renounce Falun Gong, the prison called my sister and sister-in-law, asking them to come to the prison to talk to me. Jin Long, the prison’s production manager, also attempted to transform me. He said that he had transformed four or five Falun Gong practitioners. He promised to make my life here easier if I agreed to renounce Falun Gong, and he would receive a 2,000-yuan reward from the prison for transforming a Falun Gong practitioner.
On April 15, guard lead Zhang Xiaolei ordered inmate Liu Guoxin to reduce the food given to me. I only got two spoons of rice and very little vegetables, yet I still had to work for long hours without pay. They threatened to deprive me of sleep if I didn’t cooperate with them.
As I refused to pledge allegiance to the Communist Party’s flag on April 30, 2023, the guards took me to the strict management division that night without allowing me to eat. I was forced to sit on a 31-square-inch surface and 8-inch-tall stool from 5:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. For every meal, I was given a small steam bun and two spoonfuls of soup. Despite the very little food we were given, we still had to do military marching exercises three times a day, each time for one hour. The torture was finally ended 45 days later, after someone’s family filed a complaint against the prison.
I was held at the strict management division until the end of my term, for a total of 111 days. My family was not allowed to visit me or make cash deposits to my commissary account during the time. I was unable to buy a basin, towel, toothpaste, or even toilet paper. I didn’t have a shower during the nearly six months of detention in the prison.
Prior to my release date on August 20, 2023, the prison didn’t inform my family to pick me up. My sister managed to find out about the date, and she came to the prison that day. When she saw me, she almost couldn’t recognize me: I was haggard; my hair had turned gray; my beard was long and also gray; and I was emaciated after losing 33 lbs.
In April 2022, two months after my February 2022 arrest, my wife was sent to a nursing home. She suddenly died on December 29, 2022. For all these years, she endured countless hardships with me. But when she needed me the most, I wasn’t there for her. My heart was filled with grief when I returned to my empty home.
In August 2024, I reached the retirement age of 60. I contacted the railroad bureau to apply for my pension. They refused to process it but ordered me to file the application with the Linghai District Social Security Bureau. I consulted the latter and was told that they may be able to process the application for me, but the monthly payment I would receive would be much less. I consulted a lawyer and learned that the railroad bureau had no legal basis to deny my pension. I ended up not applying for my pension with the district social security bureau and still requested my retirement benefits from the railroad bureau, which to this day has not approved my application.
Eight other employees of the railroad bureau were also fired for practicing Falun Gong, including Wang Zhongli, Wang Yinghua, Wang Zhibin, Wang Zhigang, Ge Chunling, Jin Xiaomei, Yuan Kanan, and Zheng Suli. Mr. Wang Zhibin worked several odd jobs to support his family. He had a car accident on September 11, 2005, after working a night shift. He died at 35 and is survived by his wife and a young child.
For 26 years, just because I refused to renounce my faith in Falun Gong, I suffered all kinds of persecution, including losing my job, my parents, my wife, and my child. I was detained and tortured. Now, in my senior years, I live a destitute life and struggle to make ends meet. This is the hard reality I’m facing. I hope that such a tragedy doesn’t happen to any other person and that the persecution of Falun Gong stops immediately.
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