Name: Qin Yueming (秦月明 )
Gender: Male
Age: Unknown
Address: Xiangyang Street, Jinshantun Area, Yishan City, Heilongjiang Province
Occupation: Unknown
Date of Death: February 26, 2011
Date of Most Recent Arrest: April 2002
Most Recent Place of Detention: Jiamusi Prison (佳木斯监狱 )
City: Lianjiangkou Town
Province: Heilongjiang
Persecution Suffered: brainwashing, illegal sentencing, beatings, hung up, imprisonment, torture, detention

(Clearwisdom.net) February 26, 2011, while the happiness of the Chinese New Year celebration continued, was the darkest day of my life. It was on this day that I received news that my father, Qin Yueming, was persecuted to death in Jiamusi Prison. My mother, sister and I sat still in disbelief. My mind recounted the time.

Photo of Mr. Qin Yueming

My father was very healthy, how could he die? I tried to remember if the phone call I had just received was an illusion. I could not understand how a person full of vitality could suddenly die. We had hoped for nine years despite all the difficulties. My mother always said that father would come back next year. My whole family longed for the day he would come back. This sudden news broke our hope and plans. My mind was blank. I rode the train in a daze to Jiamusi Prison. I saw my father's cold body lying in the coffin with a very pained look. I knew we had to accept what we were most unwilling to accept.

I am most saddened that my father died so tragically and we didn't even know how he had died. His facial expression was very pained. His lips were purple. When we turned him, blood came out of his mouth and nose. His neck, back, waist and legs were dark and purple with areas of scars, as well. The police at the scene were also shocked. How could this justify the cause of death the prison had given us – cardiac arrest? After we came back from prison, my mother completely broke down. She did not eat or drink for three days and was always in tears. She lost almost twenty pounds in just a few days.

My family had visited Jiamusi Prison many times. Yu Yifeng, a division chief of the prison, had guaranteed us that they had never mistreated Falun Gong practitioners and asked us to have the funeral as soon as possible. When we questioned them about my father's death, several officials spoke to us, but their words were not consistent. We repeatedly asked for the video tapes during his death but were given only the video from after his death. They had refused to provide any documentation about the cause of his death. If they truly wanted to prove to us their claim about my father's death, they would have provided us the video tapes and ordered an autopsy.

Within two weeks after my father's death, two more Falun Gong practitioners in the same division died. This showed further that my father was persecuted to death, even though the prison officials insisted that he died of natural causes. From other reports, we know that Jiamusi Prison had tried to force the practitioners to renounce Falun Gong. The strictly-governed division was set up on February 21, 2011. Only six days later, my father was persecuted to death in this division. It was reported by an insider that my father was sent to the prison hospital for forced-feeding and the tube was inserted into his lung, which caused his death. My father died in the morning, but we were informed at night. When he was being forced-fed, he cried loudly from the pain the entire night. The prison officials did not care about the practitioners' lives.

News that three practitioners were persecuted to death within two weeks shocked the local community. Later, the prison officials threatened and followed us. They were afraid that we would expose their evil crimes.

Our relatives from Shandong Province went to visit the prison to ask questions about my father's death. The explanations given by the prison were so inconceivable that they wanted to investigate further to find out the truth about his death. Ours is a big family and all the relatives were shocked; they were sad and angry when they heard that he was persecuted to death. My father was a kind and righteous person. After he started to practice Falun Gong and followed the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, he always thought of others and had touched many people.

In my mind, my father always bore hardship. When I was little, both of my parents were in the recycling business. Since my father was diligent and honest, business got better and better. At home, no matter how bad my mother lost her temper, he always answered with a smile and spoke and persuaded her. Under my father's influence, my mother started to practice Falun Gong. She became filial to my grandparents. My family became happier under the blessing of Dafa. That was a happy time in my life. However, after July 20, 1999, things changed. In 1999, my father was sentenced to forced labor for three years since he refused to renounce Falun Gong. He was held in the Yichun Forced Labor Camp. In April 2002, he was sentenced to ten years in prison again and held in Jiamusi Prison. During all these years of detention, he had suffered from inhumane torture methods such as “Tying Ropes” and “Tiger Bench”. His legs and several of his ribs were broken. He was unable to walk.

Torture demonstration - Tiger Bench

Torture demonstration - Tying Ropes

During all these years, I worried about my father in prison. We had heard from people who had been released that my father was often beaten, but he never gave up his belief. Even the inmates admired him. No matter how much he had to endure, he still remained calm. He was compassionate to the people who beat him and persuaded them not to do bad deeds. Life in the prison was harsh and conditions were bad. But he did not want us to give him money. The prison gave him six yuan a month and he told us that was enough. Even when he was in such a condition, he donated 40 yuan to the victims of the Wenchuan earthquake and thought of others. He told other inmates about Falun Gong and how it had helped him to become a better person. My father is the most respectable person to me.

I dare not or want to recall my wait during these past nine years. Maybe it is hard for others to understand. I had experienced so much difficulty, hardship, sadness and worry. From age 13 to 24, the ten years in between were considered prime for a girl growing up and thinking about her future. But I experienced so much hardship during those ten years. When I was 13 years old, the police came to arrest my father. My mother and I tried to stop them, but they also arrested my mother. I was taken to the Yichun City Police Department and interrogated several times. Each time, police officers Kang Kai and Qi You threatened and cursed me. They slapped my head and face. Since I was a minor, they forged my age as 18 years old on the detention form. I was held for a month. During my detention, I was worried about my parents and my younger sister, who was left alone at home. I suffered both mentally and physically.

In 2007, my mother was arrested and then sentenced to forced labor for two years. I took my little sister to visit my father in Jiamusi Prison. The weather was cold, and we were shaking. But the prison officials refused to let us see him, no matter how we cried and begged them. We left the prison without seeing my father, with tears on our faces. But my sister and I decided to try again the next day, since our home was far away from the prison. We rode the train a long way. We did not have much money, so we stayed in an Internet cafe throughout the night. The next morning, we went to the prison again to beg the section chief to let us see our father. But again we went back disappointed. We were unhappy during these years and often bullied. We had to work during the holidays also and could not go home. We missed our parents. After my mother and father were arrested, my sister and I were forced to drop out of school and work. Our lives were very difficult. I had to take good care of my 11-year-old sister and buy daily supplies for my parents.

Over the past ten plus years, we only spent a total of a few months together with my father. Most of his time was spent in the prison or labor camps. In July 2009, my mother was released from the forced labor camp. We were all waiting for the day when my father would come back home, so the whole family would be together. But after the long wait came the bad news.

Who took away my father's life and the lives of the other two practitioners? Who should be held responsible for this? Who should be held responsible for this persecution? In China, many families are still suffering from persecution similar to our family. Many happy families were broken and no longer live in peace, many kind people were persecuted to death. More than 3,000 practitioners have lost their lives and over 100,000 practitioners are still under detention.

Freedom of belief is a human right. Falun Dafa has spread to more than 100 countries and is persecuted only by the Chinese Communist Party. People who have participated in the persecution will inevitably face a trial of justice. Although the orders have been given, ransacking homes, extorting money, arresting, sentencing and torturing practitioners to force them to give up their beliefs is done by individuals. Where is the law to authorize them to do so? Who issued the orders? When the truth is revealed, they will be punished. The war criminals that participated in World War II have been punished. History has shown that following orders is not an excuse for crimes against humanity.

Many kind-hearted people have showed sympathy after hearing about our experiences. They tried to help. Now my family and I have appealed to the Procuratorate to punish the criminals in Jiamusi Prison.

Qin Rongqian

End of March 2011

Related reports:

http://www.clearwisdom.net/html/articles/2011/3/10/123724.html,
http://www.clearwisdom.net/html/articles/2011/3/28/124089.html,
http://www.clearwisdom.net/html/articles/2011/4/6/124247.html