(Minghui.org) Mr. Li Xifu, 77, a retired steelworker in Taiyuan City, was taken to Jinzhong Prison in Shanxi Province on January 16, 2017, for refusing to renounce Falun Gong, a spiritual practice being persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party. Mr. Li has been held in solitary confinement for 100 days for doing the Falun Gong exercises.
The No. 15 Prison Ward is an intensive monitoring division. Mr. Li has been at Ward 15 since his admission to the prison. Due to the information blockade, the details of mistreatment and torture that Mr. Li has been subjected to are unclear.
When Mr. Li's family visited him in March 2017, he stated that the guards had beaten him twice. Mr. Li reported the beatings but was ignored. His family has been very concerned for his safety.
The Li family hired two lawyers whose initial meeting request was ignored by the prison authorities. Handcuff injury scars and fresh wounds were observed on Mr. Li's hands by the lawyers in June. Mr. Li said that he tried to file a complaint regarding the illegal sentencing and torture, but the prison authorities repeatedly denied his rights.
Mr. Li's family brought the complaint to the prison to be signed by him. The prison authorities, however, claimed that they could not file a complaint without the consent of higher authorities. When the family sought consent, they were sent from department to department.
Mr. Li was arrested on November 18, 2015, for filing a criminal complaint against former Chinese dictator Jiang Zemin for implementing the persecution of Falun Gong. He was tried in Jinyuan District Court and sentenced to three years in prison on August 31, 2016. His appeal was rejected by the Taiyuan City Intermediate Court. He was transferred to Jinzhong Prison on January 16, 2017.
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Yang Chunsheng, warden of No. 15 Prison Ward in Jinzhong Prison: +86-354-5280449