Persecution Deaths of 19 Falun Gong Practitioners Reported in April 2022

The month of April 2022 confirmed 19 additional cases of Falun Gong practitioners persecuted to death for upholding their faith. Out of 18 deaths, one took place in 2016, one in 2018, six in 2021, and ten in 2022. The exact month and year of the last practitioner’s death has yet to be disclosed.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that the Chinese communist regime has persecuted since 1999. Since then, countless practitioners have been arrested, detained, sentenced, and tortured for upholding their faith. Due to strict information censorship in China, incidents cannot always be reported promptly, nor is all the information readily available.

The 19 deceased practitioners came from 6 provinces and 1 municipality in China. Heilongjiang Province recorded the most deaths (7), followed by Hebei (4), Liaoning (3), Chongqing (2), Gansu (1), Guizhou (1), and Inner Mongolia (1).

The names of the deceased practitioners and the year of their deaths are:

• Heilongjiang Province (7): Wang Xuqiu (2020 or later), Gao Xiulan (2021), Wang Guirong (2021), Li Peixian (2022), Zhang Shimin (2022), Cui Jinshi (2022), and Zhao Chengxiao (2022)
• Hebei Province (4): Liu Changming (2018), Zhao Lin (2022), Han Junde (2022) and Jiang Guiling (2022)
• Liaoning Province (3): Wang Yanjie (2016), Liu Hexian (2021) and Zhang Liyan (2022)
• Chongqing (2): Liu Yongmei (2021) and Wang Liuzhen (2022)
• Gansu Province (1): Kong Lingpu (2021)
• Guizhou Province (1): Zhou Xianglan (2021)
• Inner Mongolia (1): Yang Xiurong (2022)

Below are a few selected cases of death confirmed in April 2022.

Critically Ill Man, 77, Denied Medical Parole While Serving 8.5 Years, Dies Months Later

The Jidong No. 5 Prison in Hebei Province notified Mr. Han Junde’s family on April 14, 2022, that the Baoding City, Hebei Province man had passed away at 10:35 a.m. that day.

Mr. Han died less than three years after being admitted to the prison to serve an 8.5-year term for making gourd crafts carved with “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance” engraved on them.

After Mr. Han was taken to prison, the guards repeatedly ordered him to plead guilty and renounce Falun Gong. Because he refused to comply, they stripped his rights to see, call, or write to his family.

Mr. Han’s family later learned that he had developed severe anemia due to the abuse in prison. He became blind in one eye and had to be wheeled around in a wheelchair in prison. The family had applied for medical parole for him, but the Jingxiu District Justice Bureau denied their application, even after the doctor determined that he qualified.

Mr. Han was hospitalized around early 2022 after becoming critically ill. He was wearing a drainage tube after he was discharged. He was taken to the hospital again on April 5, 2022. He could not breathe on his own and was put on a ventilator. He passed away nine days later. (Link)

88-year-old Woman Dies Four Hours Following Arrest for Practicing Falun Gong

Ms. Cui Jinshi, 88, of Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province, died four hours after being arrested for studying Falun Gong’s teachings.

Seven officers broke into Ms. Cui’s home at around 1 p.m. on April 13, 2022, when she was studying Falun Gong’s teachings with six other practitioners. The police confiscated Ms. Cui’s Falun Gong books, a photo of Falun Gong’s founder, and cash.

At 5:45 p.m., Ms. Cui’s son Mr. Piao Hu received a call from the police, who told him that his mother was in the emergency room at the 242 Hospital. She was rushed to the hospital. Five minutes later, the doctor announced Ms. Cui was dead. Upon arriving at the hospital, Mr. Piao went to see his mother’s body and noticed her face was pale, her throat was cut open, and she was only wearing one shoe.

Mr. Piao said his mother had been healthy over the past 20 years thanks to her practice of Falun Gong. Despite her age, she lived on her own and walked fast. It’s unknown precisely what the police did that caused her death in just four hours. (Link)

Deaths After Long-Term Persecution

Heilongjiang Woman Dies from Torture in Prison

Ms. Li Peixian of Qiqihar, Heilongjiang Province, went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong in 1999 and was arrested. At a detention center, director Lin whipped her with a PVC pipe, leaving dark bruises on her back and legs. She had to sleep on her stomach.

Ms. Li returned to Beijing to appeal again in 2002 and was given three years in the Shuanghe Forced Labor Camp. She was regularly beaten and forced to watch propaganda videos smearing Falun Gong. In the winter, the guards put her in an empty room with no bed, covers, or heat. She had massive vaginal bleeding in February 2003 and was released on medical parole.

Ms. Li was arrested again and sentenced to prison in 2010 for talking to people about Falun Gong. The inmates tied her up with her arms and legs spread apart for three months. They often threw her to the ground and almost killed her. Her legs were severely swollen and she was emaciated. On the verge of death, she was released in 2015.

In early 2022, her conditions relapsed and Ms. Li passed away on February 23, 2022. (Link)

Elderly Couple Die One Year Apart

After enduring two decades of arrests, harassment, and detention for upholding their faith in Falun Gong, a married couple in Daqing City, Heilongjiang Province, passed away, one right after the other.

Mr. Zhao Chengxiao was a truck driver with the Oil Production No.3 Company under Daqing Oilfield. His wife, Ms. Gao Xiulan worked at the same company as a financial manager.

Appealing for the right to practice Falun Gong and raising awareness about the persecution, the couple was arrested multiple times over the years. Ms. Gao’s last arrest was on August 5, 2014, when the police found her talking to people about Falun Gong. The police found her name, address, and ID number on her bus pass. They took her keys and ransacked her home. Mr. Zhao, who was printing Falun Gong informational materials when the police came, was arrested.

The couple was then taken to a detention center. Ms. Gao suffered dangerously high blood pressure, skin ulcers, dizziness, headache, and sometimes shortness of breath. Her lawyer applied to have her released on bail for medical treatment, but the application was denied. On May 20, 2016 the Ranghulu District Court sentenced them each to 3.5 years in prison.

The next day Ms. Gao was taken to the Heilongjiang Province Women’s Prison. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in prison. She was pressured into writing a statement to renounce Falun Gong and released on medical parole.

Despite her health, the community committee staff members constantly harassed her. Her health continued to decline. In November 2020, Ms. Gao fell into a coma, remained bedridden, and could not eat. In her final days, she was emaciated and passed away on April 27, 2021. She was 75.

Ms. Gao’s passing devastated her husband. He began to have sharp pain in his left knee. He could not stand on his own and had to use a crutch, yet the police still constantly went to his home to see if other Falun Gong practitioners were visiting him.

Mr. Zhao’s son invited him for dinner for the Lantern Festival on February 15, 2022, and took him home afterward. When he called Mr. Zhao two days later, no one answered. He went to Mr. Zhao’s place to check on him, only to find he had already passed away. He was 76. (Link)

Hebei Woman Dies after Non-stop Harassment

After the communist regime ordered the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999, Ms. Jiang Guiling of Langfang City, Hebei Province, was repeatedly arrested for not renouncing her faith. The police harassed her multiple times each year. She passed away on March 10, 2022. She was 60.

Ms. Jiang was arrested on February 9, 2008. After 60 days at the Langfang Brainwashing Center, she was given one year at Shijiazhuang Women’s Forced Labor Camp. She was subjected to brainwashing and forced to do intensive unpaid labor.

The police continued to harass her and pressure her to renounce Falun Gong after being released. The mental pressure took a toll on her health, leading to her premature death.

Based on an original article from Minghui.org