(Minghui.org)

Summary of Key Persecution Facts:

Name: Meng Qingfu (孟庆福)
Gender: Male
Age: 57
Address: Kaiping Town, Tangshan City, Hebei
Occupation: Government official
Date of Death: March 22, 2013
Date of Most Recent Arrest: May 24, 2001
Most Recent Place of Detention: Baoding Prison (保定监狱)
City: Baoding
Province: Hebei
Persecution Suffered: Illegal sentencing, beatings, hanging by handcuffs, imprisonment, torture, dismissal from job, physical restraint, interrogation, detention.

Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Meng Qingfu, a former government official from Kaiping Township in the Kaiping Region of Tangshan City, was arrested, severely tortured, and illegally sentenced. Due to the persecution he was subjected to at the Jidong Prison, his vision declined to the point where he couldn't see things clearly and he walked with much difficulty, not being able to straighten his back. After being released from prison, he was only paid the bare minimum pension of 200 yuan each month. Mr. Meng eventually passed away on March 22, 2013, at age 57.

Mr. Meng, born in 1956, was the former deputy secretary of the Kaiping Township Administration Office in the Kaiping Region of Tangshan City. He lived in the Kaiping Township Administration Office community building, Unit No. 2, room 402.

When the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched the persecution against Falun Gong in July 1999, officials of the regional CCP Standing Committee, including Wang Hanping, Chen Xuejun, Li Yinxin, and Qiu Jianhua, tried many times to coerce him into renouncing his belief in Falun Gong, but without success. Mr. Meng was arrested and detained for two weeks at the Kaiping Commission for Discipline Inspection, for interrogation by Party officials. He was later transferred to Majiagou Administration Office to serve as the deputy secretary.

Mr. Meng was arrested on May 24, 2001 by officers of the Kaiping Police Station Political and Security Section, including section chief Cheng Yongwen (who currently serves as deputy director of the Kaiping Police Station), Ma Xiaolong, Liu Deqiang, and Yang Zhigang, for organizing a group of more than ten practitioners to publicly practice Falun Gong at a Kaiping park.

As soon as he was taken to the Kaiping Police Station, Liu Deqiang went straight to Mr. Meng and slapped him in the face. Two other officers grabbed his hair, pushed him to the ground, and started beating and kicking him.

Regional Mayor Chen Xuejun (who currently serves as Mayor of Tangshan City) instructed the officers to beat him to death. Li Guojun, the deputy director of the police department (discharged in 2005), led other officers to slap, kick, and beat Falun Gong practitioners with wooden clubs in the basement of the police station.

The practitioners were stripped naked and beaten with a wide leather belt. They were also subjected to a torture method called the “deadly strings,” a ruthless torture that uses strings to tie up a person's body and limbs so tightly that the strings cut into the victim's flesh.

Mr. Meng was tied up in the basement, with his hands tied behind his back with thin strings. He was then hung by the hands, brutally beaten, and subjected to the “deadly strings” repeatedly in the span of one night. The officers let him down for brief moments when he passed out due to pain before tying him up again for the next round. The ropes broke several times.

The officers also beat him with a wooden club on his buttocks and on his back, which caused him to lose consciousness many times. While cursing and beating Mr. Meng, the officers told him, “The Regional Mayor (Chen Xuejun) told us to fix you real good. Nobody will be held responsible even if you die. Nobody is going to save you.”

All Falun Gong practitioners, including Mr. Meng, were covered with injuries and wounds due to the severe beatings. After being illegally detained for more than three weeks at the Kaiping Police Station, they were transferred to the Tangshan No. 1 Detention Center in Yuehe Township and illegally detained there for more than seven months. After one of the female practitioners escaped, her husband was arrested and forced to finish serving her term.

Mr. Meng was later sentenced to three and a half years in prison by the officials of the Kaiping Court, including trial judge Zhang Wangyong. He was also fired from his job. He was first taken to Jidong Prison and then transferred to Baoding Prison after five days. Due to the mistreatment he suffered in prison, his vision rapidly declined to the point where he couldn't see things clearly and he walked with much difficulty, not being able to straighten his back.

After being released in April 2005, Mr. Meng asked the regional party officials many times to help him look for a job, yet never got any response. His only source of income was the 200 yuan pension he was paid each month. Mr. Meng eventually passed away on March 22, 2013.