Name: Huang Min (黄敏)
Gender: Male
Age: 69
Address: Jiamusi City, Heilongjiang Province
Occupation: Lecturer
Date of Most Recent Arrest: February, 2003
Most Recent Place of Detention: Shandong Prison (山东省监狱)
City: Jinan
Province: Shandong
Persecution Suffered: Detention, brainwashing, fired from workplace, wages withheld, forced labor, handcuffed and shackled, solitary confinement, torture, illegal sentencing, imprisonment, extortion, denied visitation rights.
(Minghui.org) Mr. Huang Min was an instructor at the Electronic Engineering Department of Jiamusi University. He was arrested in 2003 for intercepting cable TV programs to broadcast factual information about Falun Gong. While he was being held at the Weihai Detention Center in Shandong Province, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Mr. Huang is now detained in the No.11 team of Shandong Prison. He has not been allowed to see his wife for the past eight years.
Illnesses disappeared after practicing Falun Gong
Mr. Huang used to suffer from cholecystitis, pleurisy, hepatitis and severe neurasthenia. He also suffered from trigeminal neuralgia, which was unbearably painful and often affected him while he was teaching in class. The severe bouts of pain caused him to sweat profusely and he had to press his head against the wall to relieve it. His students were very worried when they saw him in this state and were at a loss for what to do. Mr. Huang had to take a long period of time off sick, and he was not able to work for eight years. All of his family's savings were used on the medical expenses.
Mr. Huang started practicing Falun Gong in May 1995. His health gradually recovered after three months of practicing, and he no longer needed to take medication. Falun Gong's principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance have taken root in his heart since then, and he was able to return to work at the university after eight years of absence. He told his family, friends, students and colleagues how he had benefited so much from Falun Gong. All of his family members started learning Falun Gong, and some of his students and coworkers have also started the practice. He carried a tape recorder to a practice site every morning, and helped others to buy Falun Gong materials.
Persecuted for appealing in Beijing
When the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started persecuting Falun Gong in 1999, Mr. Huang became a target for persecution at his university. He was arrested and taken to a brainwashing center, where they used various torture methods in an attempt to get him to renounce his belief. However, none of them worked. Mr. Huang told the guards, “Falun Dafa is good. I'm not going to listen to you defame it.” It wasn't long before he was released from the brainwashing center.
Mr. Huang was removed from his post at the university and his salary was withheld. He appealed to higher authorities many times for the injustice against Falun Gong and for the good reputation of its founder. He first went to Beijing to appeal on July 23, 1999. When he went to Beijing to appeal again in December, 1999, he was arrested and taken to the Jiamusi Detention Center, where he was held for seven months. As a result of the torture he endured, his hair, beard and eyebrows turned white, and he became very thin and weak. He kept trembling and could hardly stand up properly. His family strongly demanded his release, and were forced to pay 1,000 yuan before they would let him go.
Mr. Huang went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong again in June 2000 and was taken to a detention center. The management at Jiamusi University, agents from the 610 Office and the security division worked with the secretary from the Electronic Engineering Department Lin Xuegang to fabricate evidence and falsify documents against him. He was handcuffed and shackled and taken to Jiamusi Forced Labor Camp for one year.
Tortured in Jiamusi Forced Labor Camp
Guards at Jiamusi Forced Labor Camp put Mr. Huang in the “Concentration Training Team” and tortured him for five months. He was also put in solitary confinement and forced to sit on a small stool for long periods of time, to try and force him to give up his belief in Falun Gong.
Mr. Huang got infected with scabies in the camp, and his body was covered in black blisters that constantly discharged blood and pus. The only place free from these blisters was his face. He constantly suffered unbearable pain. However, the camp authorities would not release him to seek medical treatment, and the guards still persecuted him. When the guards told him to write a report about his thoughts on Falun Gong, he wrote only “Falun Dafa is good.” He explained the facts about Falun Gong to everybody he saw. The guards were afraid that he may convince others to practice Falun Gong, so they kept moving him to different cells. If he refused to leave the cell, guards would direct four inmates to drag him out. The scabies were gone after about six months.
When Mr. Huang's forced labor term ended in August 2001, the camp authorities wanted to extend his term. He then started a hunger strike to protest and reached the point that he could no longer take care of his daily needs. It was only then that he was released on bail to receive medical treatment.
Persecution continued after being released
Mr. Huang had no source of income after he was released from the labor camp because he had lost his job. He went to his workplace every day, but nobody would talk to him. He believed that because he was an instructor at the university, the CCP absolutely should not be allowed to take away his job and savings that he had accumulated over his lifetime. In November 2001, he took some small luggage and went to the security division of the university to try to reason with them. However, nobody was interested in talking about his case. An officer pushed him out of the door and told him, “You were already dismissed. You are not allowed to come to the university anymore!” They forcibly pushed Mr. Huang out of the university entrance when they were about to close for the evening. Mr. Huang did not go home, and thought, “I will definitely not allow them to persecute me. If they don't let me stay in the university, I will stay on the street.” It was already pretty cold in November in northeast China. He put down his luggage under some trees beside the sidewalk and slept there that night, while cold and hungry.
People going out to do early morning exercises passed by Mr. Huang. One person walked up to him and asked loudly, “Are you dead or alive?” Mr. Huang answered, “I'm alive. I'm a university instructor. I practice Falun Gong. They fired me and sent me to a forced labor camp. I'm back. They will not give me my salary. I have no food to eat and no place to live.” That person immediately reported him to the Xinhua Police Station, the police station in the university campus. Several officers came and took him inside. His feet were injured by the cold. When officers informed his family, his wife came. After listening to what had happened, she asked the officers, “Are you going to take care of him? Are you able to solve his problem of needing food and clothing?” After contacting the university, the officers told Mr. Huang's wife to take him home and promised that they would solve his problem of needing food and clothing. After a few days, an officer called Mr. Huang's family and asked them to come and pick up his cost-of-living allowance, which was 500 yuan a month.
Intercepting cable TV programs and spreading facts about Falun Gong
Mr. Huang started telling people the facts about Falun Gong soon after his health recovered from being in the labor camp, and he was aware of the hugely positive effect of broadcasting factual information about Falun Gong by intercepting cable TV programs. Several young practitioners had approached him many times inquiring about technical issues relating to this. He was also aware that Mr. Liu Chengjun had been persecuted to death by the authorities after intercepting TV programs to spread facts about Falun Gong. However, without hesitation, he proceeded to prepare to intercept TV programs to broadcast factual information about Falun Gong.
In early 2002, Mr. Huang and several other practitioners successfully broadcast information about Falun Gong in a local area. In April of that year, the whole of the State Security Bureau and Police Department went around the country searching for them. A warrant had been issued for Mr. Huang's arrest with a reward of 50,000 yuan. The local government also added a reward of 10,000 yuan on top of that. Mr. Huang had no choice but move from place to place to avoid being arrested.
Sentenced to 20 years in prison
Mr. Huang's family was informed of his arrest on February 18, 2003, and his wife went to the Weihai Detention Center in Shandong Province to visit him. However, the director of the detention center, Xiao Jinan, did not allow her to see him. His wife went to the detention center every day to try to see him. Mr. Huang was on a hunger strike during that time.
Mr. Huang's case was to be judged by the Weihai High Tech Police Department and the sentence was to be issued by the Huancui Court in Weihai City. His wife went to the Weihai High Tech Police Department, the 610 Office and the Huancui Court on a daily basis to ask for her husband's release. Mr. Huang managed to get a message to his wife, stating that 1,500 yuan had been withheld by the authorities, but he did not know where. When his wife went to the police department and asked for the return of the money, officers there redirected her to the 610 Office. The 610 Office authorities said that the money had been handed to the court along with the case. She then went to Huancui Court and met with the presiding judges Zhang Xiaoyang and Zhou Dakai. She asked for the return of the money, and told them that Mr. Huang's family members were here, and that the court must inform her of her husbands' trial date. She then left them her phone number.
Mr. Huang's wife went to the court almost every day, and eventually Zhang Xiaoyang told her that the court session would be opened in Daxiyuan during the following week. She went to Daxiyuan on the Monday, but did not see anything happening there. She later learned that the court did not try Mr. Huang in public at all, and the decision had already been announced the previous Friday in the detention center, in secret. Mr. Huang and the other practitioners had been sentenced to 20 years in prison. All of them appealed to the higher court, and half a month later, Zhang Xiaoyang and Zhou Dakai secretly issued the sentence in the detention center.
Officials at Huancui Court still withheld Mr. Huang's 1,500 yuan, so his wife continued to go to the court to ask for the return of the money almost every day. Zhang Xiaoyan avoided meeting her and refused to return the money to her. Later, Zhang Xiaoyang ordered a thin elderly man to tell her that Zhao Dakai had gone overseas and that she should come back when Zhou returned. In fact, Zhou Dakai did not go overseas at all.
Persecuted in Shandong Prison
Mr. Huang was transferred to Shandong Prison in Jinan City in August 2003, and the 1,500 yuan withheld by Huancui Court was still not returned. Mr. Huang's wife went to Shandong Prison on September 1, 2003 and asked to see him. Chief Chen Yan said, “You cannot meet him right now. Go home and wait for a notice.” His wife said, “That won't do. I've traveled through five provinces to get here. Now I'm here. How can I go home without seeing my husband?” She went to the prison every day, and was finally allowed to see her husband after three days.
Family visit made difficult by prison authorities
Mr. Huang's wife and son went to Shandong Prison on January 29, 2004 to visit him. They arrived at the prison reception very early in the morning, and were told that they could see Mr. Huang at 10 a.m. They waited and waited, but Mr. Huang did not show up. By 11 a.m., Mr. Huang's wife and son were very anxious because the prison staff would get off work at 11:30 a.m. and prison visits are not allowed to exceed 30 minutes. Mr. Huang was finally brought in at 11:15 a.m. The father and the son had not seen each other for four years. After about five minutes, guard Zheng shouted, “They don't know the rules!” Then four inmates immediately came and pulled Mr. Huang away.
Mr. Huang's family wrote a letter of complaint to the prison authorities, and were then allowed to meet Mr. Huang again that afternoon. However, Mr. Huang's wife has not been allowed to see him since then. It has now been eight years. Mr. Huang's family will sue the prison authorities if they still do not allow Mr. Huang's family members to see him.
Mr. Huang started having difficulty discharging urine some time ago, due to the persecution. He was hospitalized in the Shandong Police Hospital, but the prison authorities did not inform his family. Mr. Huang's blood pressure started increasing again recently.
Mr. Huang's family members constantly harassed
Since the authorities started searching for Mr. Huang in 2002, his family members have constantly been harassed, with officers monitoring their apartment around the clock. Their home has been ransacked by the police many times. Mr. Huang's wife and son were often taken to the police department and were interrogated until late at night. Their home phone was tapped for several years, and they were followed wherever they went.
One of Mr. Huang's neighbors suffered from severe heart problems and was frightened when the police kept banging on Mr. Huang's front door. Even Mr. Huang's brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law and his daughter-in-law's parents were harassed and had their phones tapped. Their relatives dared not stay in contact with them for several years.
Mr. Huang's wife's aunt was already 71 years old, but officers still often harassed her. Her home was ransacked by a group of officers from the Baowei Police Station just before the Chinese new year in 2003, and all of her Falun Gong books were confiscated. She was so frightened that she started spitting up blood. She soon lost the ability to take care of her daily needs, and she passed away in June, 2003.
