80-Year-Old Retired Teacher Arrested Again for His Faith, Having Previously Served Two Forced Labor Terms and Three Prison Terms
(Minghui.org) An 80-year-old Chongqing resident was arrested on June 23, 2024 for distributing informational materials which exposed the Chinese Communist Party’s persecution of his faith, Falun Gong.
The arresting officers from the Longshui Town Police Station raided Mr. Liu Shurong’s home and confiscated his laptop, Falun Gong materials, a portrait of the Falun Gong’s founder, and other valuables. They took him to the Dazu District Detention Center, where he remains.
This is not the first time Mr. Liu, a retired teacher, has been targeted for his faith since the persecution began in July 1999. He was previously twice given forced labor terms and was jailed three times.
Two Forced Labor Terms
Mr. Liu went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong in October 1999 and was arrested. He was given one year of forced labor at the Xishanping Labor Camp. Because he held firm to his faith, his term was extended by eight months.
He was arrested again in September 2001 and held at the Dazu District Detention Center for one month.
During a gathering organized by the Longshui Town Board of Education for retired teachers in February 2002, Mr. Liu was arrested after he tried to stop Luo Guangwen, the party host, from attacking Falun Gong. He was given one year at the Xishanping Labor Camp.
A 3-Year Prison Term Following Arrest in 2005
Officers from the Dazu District Domestic Security Division broke into Mr. Liu’s home on September 27, 2005 and arrested him. They took him to the Dazu District Detention Center. He went on a hunger strike in protest and was brutally force-fed. The guards also restrained him with handcuffs and shackles which were linked in a way such that he could not straighten his body (see image below).
Torture illustration: handcuffed and shackled
The Dazu District Court sentenced Mr. Liu to three years in March 2006 and he was admitted to the Yongchuan Prison.
The prison guards tortured Mr. Liu and other practitioners using various means, such as beating them savagely, pressing their heads down with heavy objects, burning their leg hair with cigarette butts, whipping them with twigs, placing numerous bugs on their bodies, forcing them to stand for long hours, depriving them of sleep, denying them the restroom use, starving them, using them as guinea pigs for drug tests, and having them stand outside with only thin layers of clothing in the deep winter.
Unable to bear the torture, Mr. Liu wrote statements to renounce his faith against his will. But he soon regretted it and announced on May 12, 2008 to nullify the statements he wrote under pressure. The guards beat him in retaliation and forced him to sit motionless for one week. He went on a hunger strike in protest and was force-fed in the prison hospital.
Under the directive of education section chief Wang, prison hospital president Li and vice president Yang, the medical workers conducted an experiment on Mr. Liu about the intensity of force-feeding. They restrained him to a bed with his hands cuffed and feet shackled. They inserted a feeding tube into his nostril down to his stomach to force-feed him. They also injected him with 2,000 ml of unknown fluids at a drip rate of 150-200 drops per minute. One woman guard even urged the nurses to increase the drip rate and said she didn’t care if Mr. Liu died from it.
Hospital president Li said, “It’s no big deal if you die. It’d only cost the government 425 yuan to cremate your body. It’s within the government’s policy to conduct human trials. We got the order from higher-ups to do this on you!”
According to an insider, the toxic liquid could well kill people. Mr. Liu fought for his life during his one month’s stay in the prison hospital.
Sentenced to 5 Years in 2009
Mr. Liu was arrested on March 9, 2009 after being followed by the police. He was sentenced to five years by the Dazu District Court six months later and admitted to the Yongchuan Prison.
The guards and inmates beat him so savagely on September 19, 2010 that he lost consciousness. They carried him to the prison hospital and force-fed him every day for seven months. His health quickly declined and he was released on medical parole in October 2011.
Not long after Mr. Liu returned home, Wang Hong (vice manager of Longshui Town), Gao Yali (local street committee secretary) and Jiang Guifang (another local official) showed up to harass him. He refused to sign statements to renounce his faith and they left. They came again on November 11, 2011, and forced him to sign statements this time.
Sentenced to Two Years in 2015
Mr. Liu distributed Falun Gong informational materials on July 28, 2015 and gave a copy to a man. The man followed him and photographed him.
After catching up with Mr. Liu, the man pushed him down from his electric bike and straddled him before calling the police. Officers from the Shuangqiao Police Station soon arrived to arrest Mr. Liu, whose leg was bleeding because he was injured when he was shoved off his bike.
Mr. Liu stood trial at the Dazu District Court on October 21, 2015. His lawyer defended his innocence and he also testified in his own defense. The presiding judge admitted that he had no say over the trial outcome and sentenced Mr. Liu to two years per an order from higher-ups.
Mr. Liu was transferred from the Dazu District Detention Center to the Yuzhou Prison after the wrongful conviction.
Related Reports:
Higher-Ups Order Experiments on Practitioner at Yongchuan Prison Hospital, Chongqing City