Cellphone Repair Shop Owner Dies Serving Time for His Faith

(Minghui.org)

Name: Zhao LinChinese Name: 赵林Gender: MaleAge: 69City: ZhangjiakouProvince: HebeiOccupation: Cellphone repair shop ownerDate of Death: April 2, 2022Date of Most Recent Arrest: April 7, 2020Most Recent Place of Detention: Zhangjiakou City Detention Center

A Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province resident died on April 2, 2022, while serving a 3.5-year term for practicing Falun Gong, a mind-body discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

The guards at the Zhangjiakou City Detention Center, who had been denying Mr. Zhao Lin’s family visitation, informed the family on March 25, 2022 that Mr. Zhao had developed a lung condition and had been taken to the Zhangjiakou City No. 1 People’s Hospital. It’s been reported that he was on a ventilator. It is not clear whether his family was allowed to visit him at the hospital. Mr. Zhao passed away on April 2, at the age of 69. 

Mr. Zhao Lin, a former worker at a grain machinery factory, opened a cellphone repair store after he retired. Three officers from the Wuyilu Police Station arrested him at his shop on April 7, 2020 and confiscated his computer, Falun Gong informational materials, and other personal belongings. That evening, the same officers went to Mr. Zhao’s home, broke open the lock to his storage room in the basement, and confiscated a computer, printer, and other items. More officers returned the next morning, confiscated more items from his basement storage and took them away in a van.

Mr. Zhao was first held at the Wuyilu Police Station and then quarantined in the Wei County Detention Center before being transferred to the Zhangjiakou City Detention Center, where he was held until just before he died. The police threatened to arrest his family if they tried to seek his release.

Mr. Zhao appeared in the Qiaoxi Court twice, first on October 13 and then on November 2, 2020. The bailiffs ordered Mr. Zhao to wear whole-body protective gear during the hearings. Yet the bailiffs escorting him didn’t even wear a mask. As his family couldn’t see an inch of Mr. Zhao’s skin, they weren’t sure whether it was really him or whether the authorities were trying to cover up something. The judge sentenced Mr. Zhao to three and a half years in December that year. 

Perpetrators’ contact information:Yin Xunguo (尹逊国), officer, Wuyilu Police StationWang Haiying (汪海鹰), president, Qiaoxi District Court: [phone], [phone]Wang Cuifang (王翠芳), presiding judge, Qiaoxi District Court: [phone], [phone], [phone]Jiao Chengyun (焦成云), judge, Qiaoxi District Court: [phone], [phone]Liu Ying (刘英), president, Qiaoxi District Procuratorate: [phone], [phone]Hou Zengyu (侯增玉), prosecutor, Qiaoxi District Procuratorate: [phone], [phone]

Related report:

Cellphone Repair Store Owner Sentenced to 3.5 Years for Practicing Falun Gong