(Minghui.org)
Name: Ke ChangyanChinese Name: 柯昌炎Gender: MaleAge: 61City: DayeProvince: HubeiOccupation: FarmerDate of Death: April 22, 2024Date of Most Recent Arrest: January 16, 2018Most Recent Place of Detention: Shayang Prison
A 61-year-old resident of Daye City, Hubei Province died on April 22, 2024, two years after he completed a four-year prison term for his faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Mr. Ke Changyan was brutally tortured while serving time. After he was released in 2022, the local police kept harassing him at home. He never recovered from his injuries and passed away two years later. His back and legs were still bruised at the time of his death.
Prior to his prison sentence, Mr. Ke was previously given two forced labor terms totaling four years. He was subjected to various forms of torture and force-fed with unknown drugs, after which he suffered from frequent dizziness, memory loss, and a mental disorder. The labor camp guards often drew blood from him but never provided any explanation for it. Mr. Ke suspected that it was related to the state-sanctioned forced organ harvesting against Falun Gong practitioners.
Mr. Ke was first arrested in January 2001. He was held at the Daye No. 2 Detention Center for 15 days before being transferred to a brainwashing center and detained for another seven days. He was forced to watch propaganda videos attacking Falun Gong and was verbally abused, as the authorities attempted to force him to renounce his faith.
Mr. Ke was arrested again in February 2001 and was detained for another 15 days. The police ransacked his home and confiscated his Falun Gong-related materials.
Mr. Ke went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong on September 28, 2001. He was arrested for a third time and given two years of forced labor. Before he was sent to the Shizishan Drug Rehabilitation Center to serve time, he was kept at two detention facilities, where he was deprived of sleep, force-fed, beaten, and verbally abused.
At the drug rehab center, the inmates were instructed by the guards to beat Mr. Ke, but he wasn't allowed to file a complaint against the abuse.
He was forced to do manual labor, including processing tin foil and picking peanuts. When he suffered heat stroke after working in the field in 100°F heat, the guards instructed the inmates to throw him into a pool.
A dozen police cars drove into Mr. Ke’s village on December 10, 2007, and surrounded his home. Several officers kicked open his door and forcibly cuffed his hands behind his back. His family members were injured while trying to stop the officers from arresting him.
The police burned Mr. Ke’s beard while he was kept at the Daye No. 2 Detention Center. He was later taken to Shayang Forced Labor Camp to serve his second two-year term.
Because he refused to renounce Falun Gong, Mr. Ke was deprived of sleep, tortured on a tiger bench and also forced to watch propaganda videos demonizing Falun Gong. His head once became swollen as a result of beatings. The inmates pricked his back with needles and left injuries all over his body.
In addition to the physical torture, he was forced to work without pay, making cigarette lighters and neon lights, and to sew flowers.
The authorities extended Mr. Ke’s term by five days as he refused to write statements to defame Falun Gong.
Mr. Ke was arrested at home on the morning of January 16, 2018 and taken to the Xiongjiabian Lockup. The arresting officers included chief Huang Kaijin of the Mingshan Township Police Station and section chief Zhang Xuhua of the Daye City 610 Office. They barred Mr. Ke’s family from visiting him in detention. Officer Chen of the Daye City Police Department, who was in charge of the case, harassed Mr. Ke’s family at home many times and demanded to know the source of the Falun gong books confiscated from his home and whom he had contact with.
The Daye City Procuratorate indicted Mr. Ke around September 2018 and he stood trial at the Daye City Court on November 15, 2018. His head was shaven and he appeared in poor health. The court sentenced him to four years in May 2019 and he was transferred to the Shayang Prison days later on May 29. His family was allowed to see him for the first time since his arrest the day before his prison transfer. They were devastated to see him reduced to just skin and bones after nearly 16 months of detention.