Falun Gong practitioner Liu Chengjun from the city of Changchun is one of the
practitioners responsible for tapping into the local television network to broadcast
the truth of the persecution against Falun Gong on March 5th, 2002, an event that
shocked the world. After enduring cruel torture in prison for one year and nine
months, Liu Chengjun passed away at the Jilin University Sino-Japanese Friendship
Hospital at 4 a.m. on December 26, 2003. On the same day, the Jilin Prison gathered
large groups of police and forcibly cremated the body at 11 a.m. The cremation
was done without an autopsy and against the family’s wishes. Eyewitnesses stated
that Liu Chengjun’s body had bloodstains near the nostrils, ears, thighs, and
other areas.
Around 8 p.m. on March 5, 2002, eight channels on the Changchun cable TV network
aired “Falun Dafa Around the World,” “Self-immolation or Staged
Event,” and other truth clarification programs. The broadcast lasted 40-50
minutes without interruption. The broadcast allowed many people to find out
the truth about Falun Gong being slandered and persecuted, sending shockwaves
throughout Mainland China, as well as outside China. Liu Cheng was a major part
of this courageous act. Chinese dictator Jiang Zemin, who single-handedly started
the bloody persecution against Falun Gong, became furious and extremely scared.
He gave the order to “kill [those responsible] without pardon.”
On March 24, 2002, when Liu Chengjun was arrested, the police fired two shots
into Liu Chengjun’s leg, even though he was already in handcuffs. On the same
day, Liu Chengjun was sent to Jilin Province’s Police Hospital. His hands were
stretched out and cuffed to both sides of the bed. In April, the perpetrators
opened Liu’s handcuffs as a group of people from the state-run media tried to
videotape him. A reporter wanted to get his voice on tape so that they could
fabricate news about him. The reporter asked Liu Chengjun to tell her about
the facts of Falun Gong. Liu Chengjun recognized their scheme and refused to
cooperate. Afterwards, the head of the Prison Affairs Section at the hospital
put shackles on Liu’s feet.
The above picture provided by China News Net on April 1,
2002 shows that Liu Chengjun didn’t have enough strength to keep his natural
sitting position after severe torture. This picture was published by a website
that typically downplays the Jiang regime’s brutality. It’s not a stretch to
believe that the situation of Liu Chengjun being tortured was even more severe
than the picture could express.
In the beginning of May 2003, Liu Chengjun was transferred to the Tiebei Detention
Center. The police there wanted to extract a confession from him, so he was
tortured with the Tiger Bench for 52 days. During the illegal trial for Liu
Chengjun, he had to be carried into the court. Liu Chengjun was illegally sentenced
to 19 years in prison and sent to the Jilin City Prison in Jilin Province.
According to a Clearwisdom report on October 27, 2003, at the end of October
2003, more than 100 Falun Gong practitioners were being held in Jilin Prison,
and most of them went on a hunger strike to protest the ongoing severe torture
by prison guards towards themselves and all other Falun Dafa practitioners in
China. At that time, the torture had deformed Liu Chengjun’s body and he could
hardly speak. His life was in imminent danger. At one point, Liu was sent to
the Jilin City Central Hospital to undergo emergency rescue. The hospital declared
him to be in mortal danger, but Liu Chengjun was still forcibly transferred
to the Jilin Province Public Security Hospital by the 610 Office*. Later, Liu
Chengjun was transferred to the Jilin Central Hospital of the Prison Management
Department (also called the Jin Police Hospital, or Jilin Labor Camp Hospital).
Doctors at the Public Security Hospital diagnosed Liu Chengjun as suffering
from uremia and declared him to be in mortal danger. On November 4, Jilin Prison
was forced to begin paperwork for Liu Chengjun to be released for medical parole,
but this process required approval from the Nongan County Debiao Police Station.
The police station was afraid to shoulder responsibility, so on November 5 the
case was referred to the Nongan County Public Security Office. The Nongan County
610 Office refused to give their approval, so the process to release Liu Chengjun
for medical parole was aborted.
After the Clearwisdom reports were published, Falun Gong practitioners from
outside China showed their support and initiated rescue activities. Overseas
Falun Gong practitioners strongly condemned the persecution of Liu Chengjun
by the Jiang regime. They pointed out that for the Jiang regime to persecute
those who tapped into the cable TV signals is in reality criminals prosecuting
those that exposed them. Human rights organizations also lent their support.
Among them, the Swiss Christian Anti-Torture Organization wrote to Chinese Chairman
Hu Jintao, Police Chief of Jilin Province Zhao Yongji, and the Chinese Ambassador
in Berne, “…urgently calling for the Provincial Police Chief to investigate
the situation in the Jilin Provincial Prison and the Police Hospital in Changchun,
to implement necessary measures to protect people from being illegally tortured
by prison police.”
However, the persecution did not stop. The Jilin Prison and Nongan County “610
Office” worked together to carry out Jiang Zemin’s policy against millions
of Falun Gong practitioners: “Defame their reputations, bankrupt them financially,
and destroy them physically”, acting recklessly and with no restraint.
We don’t know what other types of torture and persecution Liu Chengjun suffered
during this period of time, but no one can escape Heaven’s laws. The crimes
that were committed will come to light and be exposed in front of the world,
and all of those responsible for the persecution of Liu Chengjun will be brought
to justice.
The magnificent feat of the TV broadcast on March 5th sent shockwaves around
the world and won praise from many people. In order to have more people understand
the facts of the Jiang regime’s slander against Falun Gong and their blood persecution,
Chinese Falun Gong practitioners have again and again stepped forward to expose
the persecution in spite of the danger, and in some cases, lost their lives
because of the Jiang regime’s brutal persecution.
In western civilized society, people’s freedoms of belief and speech are respected
and safeguarded, so nobody has the need or would take the route of tapping into
TV signals to send their message. But in Mainland China, the Falun Gong practitioners’
freedoms of speech and belief have been completely stripped away. The Falun
Gong practitioners who exercise their freedoms of speech and belief have been
subjected to a bloody persecution, and the Jiang regime’s state-run media have
done their utmost to cover up and disguise the use of violence and torture to
persecute Falun Gong practitioners. Under these circumstances, Liu Chengjun
and other practitioners’ act of broadcasting truth-clarifying programs in Mainland
China is safeguarding the citizens’ Constitutionally guaranteed freedoms of
speech and belief, and the people’s right to know. And in spite of being subjected
to the bloody persecution, Falun Gong practitioners are still living by the
spirit of great Compassion and Tolerance, conducting themselves peacefully and
rationally.
Liu Chengjun gave his life to broadcast the truth, to resist the persecution
perpetrated by the evil forces, to defend his faith, and to call out to the
public. History will bear witness to Liu Chengjun’s selfless, heroic sacrifice.
Liu Chengjun passed away as a result of the persecution at 4 a.m. on December
26, 2003, and police illegally and forcibly cremated his body at 11 a.m. the
same day. We have no way of holding a solemn farewell ceremony for Liu Chengjun,
but we hope that all the kind-hearted people of the world will give a moment
of silence in their hearts, to bid Liu Chengjun farewell.
At the same time, we hope that everyone will condemn the Jiang regime’s brutality
and violence against innocent people, end this campaign of persecution and murder
against Falun Gong practitioners that are persisting in their belief of “Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance,”
and lend their support to the Falun Gong practitioners’ righteous acts of upholding
the truth and exposing the Jiang regime’s lies.
*The 610 Office is an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong,
with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other
political or judicial systems.
Posting date: 30/Dec/2003
Original article date: 29/Dec/2003
Category: News from China
