(Minghui.org) When Mr. Gao Hong’s family recently visited him at the Shandong Province Prison (located in the capital city of Jinan), they noted that he was emaciated to the point of being almost beyond recognition. He was so weak that he had to be supported by two guards at all times. His face was pale and he looked disoriented.
During the whole visit, he hung his head and didn’t say but a few words. When he did speak, his voice was feeble. He said that he had been staying at the prison hospital since he was admitted to the prison on June 7, 2023. It is unclear, though, what kind of medical treatments he’s been given. The guards didn’t give his family any updates about his condition.
Mr. Gao, 55, of Zibo City, Shandong Province, is serving three years for his faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
An electrical engineer by training, Mr. Gao was arrested on August 29, 2022 by Han Junhu and Chang Jiang of the Qidu Domestic Security Office. They asked him if he still practiced Falun Gong and he said yes. The brief interaction was videotaped and later used as prosecution evidence against him.
Han and Chang soon released Mr. Gao under house arrest and submitted his case to the Zichuan District Procuratorate on September 6. The Zichuan District Court convicted him on December 5, 2022. He was taken back into custody on March 14, 2023, and held in Zhangdian Detention Center before his prison transfer on June 7.
After Mr. Gao’s father passed away in 2018, he became his 85-year-old mother’s sole caregiver, as his sister lives in Shanghai and struggles with chronic illnesses. His mother has long suffered from high blood pressure (with a systolic reading of more than 200 mmHg when a normal range is 120 mmHg or less) and a severe heart condition. After his arrest, she suffered from urinary incontinence. She also became forgetful and often left home without taking her key. Once, she had to hire a locksmith to open the door for her. Twice she forgot to turn off the gas stove, almost resulting in disaster.
Past Persecution
After graduating from the China University of Petroleum with a major in automation in 1991, Mr. Gao landed a job at the Qilu Petrochemical Research Institute. In 1997, after witnessing the positive changes in his parents from practicing Falun Gong, he followed in their footsteps and became a practitioner, too. The practice gave him wisdom and he won several awards for technological innovation at work.
Because he handed out informational materials about Falun Gong, Mr. Gao was arrested on November 26, 2000, and held in the security department in his workplace. The police ransacked his home, and the Communist Party committee at his workplace arranged for officials to talk to him, trying to persuade him to renounce Falun Gong.
Mr. Gao was taken to the Linzi District Detention Center on December 5 and released on bail 21 days later.
He was arrested again at work on March 10, 2001, and held for a month in a brainwashing session hosted by his workplace. He was monitored around the clock and forced to watch propaganda videos smearing Falun Gong every day.
The police attempted to arrest Mr. Gao again on July 18, 2001. He happened to be out when the police came. They raided his home and left. When they heard about the raid, Mr. Gao and his parents were forced to live away from home for nearly a decade.
During the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the police stopped Mr. Gao on July 31 while he was on his way to Hebei Province to work. The police arrested him after finding Falun Gong books in his bag. He was taken back to his hometown and interrogated several times about the whereabouts of his parents. The police held him at the Zibo Detention Center and gave him two years of forced labor on August 26, 2008.
In the Shandong Province No. 2 Forced Labor Camp, Mr. Gao was deprived of sleep for seven consecutive days, beaten, and had his wrists handcuffed behind his back. He protested by going on a hunger strike and refusing to do the forced labor. In retaliation, the guards forced him to stand for three days and sit on a small stool from 5:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day for 81 days. Merely skin and bones, he was released on medical parole on October 3, 2009.
Mr. Gao Hong was reduced to skin and bones from a hunger strike and severe abuse and torture in the Shandong Province No. 2 Forced Labor Camp.
Less than a year after he was released, Mr. Gao was arrested again on July 11, 2010, after being reported for distributing information about Falun Gong. He was detained for 12 days. His cell phone and electric bike were impounded.
In September 2010, Mr. Gao and his parents moved back home. He later found a job at a private company to support his parents.
The police broke into Mr. Gao’s home on July 15, 2020, when his mother, Ms. Liang Zhongxian, was at their shared residence alone. The police claimed that they found a Falun Gong brochure in their neighborhood and they suspected that it was Ms. Liang who distributed it. They took her to the police station for interrogation and confiscated their Falun Gong books, computer, printer, tablet, and even a desk lamp.
The police seized Mr. Gao when he returned home from work that afternoon. He was interrogated until the following afternoon. Due to the pandemic, the police gave him a one-year bail instead of detaining him.
Related Report:
Electrical Engineer Admitted to Prison to Serve Three Years for His Faith
Copyright © 2023 Minghui.org. All rights reserved.
