One reason for early release from China’s prison system is “ill health,” a conditition often produced by torture, whether in the form of violence or deprivation. Another reason for briefer tenure in prison than expected is being murdered there—persecuted to death, as Bitter Winter describes it (“Falun Gong Practitioner Persecuted to Death 5 Days After Arrival in Notorious Prison,” October 21, 2024).
Ren Changbin, a practitioner of the spiritual practice called Falun Gong, which the Chinese Communist Party would like to stamp out, died on September 28, 2024. He was arrested by the police at his home on the evening of September 14. He was accused of being active in a xie jiao, a crime punished by Article 300 of the Chinese Criminal Code. On July 25, 2024, he was sentenced to three years in prison by the Jiamusi Xiangyang District Court.
Ren Changbin was transferred to Shuangyashan Prison on September 23, 2024. He was tortured to death just five days later, on the 28th, at the age of 60….
[At the funeral home, his sister and other family members] observed a stitched wound on his head, bruised eyes, body injuries, and hurt feet, all unmistakable signs of torture. Ren Changbin joins a long list of Falun Gong practitioners tortured to death in Chinese jails.
The “crime”: being active in a xie jiao, a term that reporter Shen Xiang defines as organizations banned for “ ‘spreading heterodox teachings,’ sometimes less correctly translated as ‘evil cults.’ ”
For this involvement, Ren Changbin (shown above) was sentenced to years in prison. His murderer or murderers won’t serve any time.
