Elderly Falun Gong Practitioner Dies Days After Release from Prison in Liaoning

Mr. Men Yulin (門玉林), a 74-year-old resident of Yi County, Liaoning Province, passed away on Oct. 21, just four days after being released from a seven-year prison sentence for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) since 1999, according to Bitter Winter, an online magazine focused on religious persecution.

Reports from Minghui and Weiquanwang, a website aggregating grassroots accounts of human rights abuses in China, indicated that when Mr. Men was released on Oct. 17, he was disoriented, emaciated, and unable to recognize his own children. His death, only days later, marked the end of decades of state harassment and imprisonment.

Mr. Men began practicing Falun Gong in January 1997, experiencing a full recovery from chronic ailments such as neurasthenia and rectal disease. His wife, Ms. Shen Guizhu, joined him the following year and also regained her health. After the CCP launched its nationwide persecution in July 1999, the couple became targets of repeated police harassment. Mr. Men was first arrested in 2002 and later forced into hiding to evade further detention. His wife passed away after years of persecution.

On Oct. 18, 2018, Mr. Men was arrested again by officers from the Qianyang Township Police Station and Yi County Police Department. Despite repeated pleas from his family, he was sentenced to seven years in prison. When he was finally released in Octorber 2025, years of abuse had left him physically and mentally broken.

While the full details of his treatment in custody remain unclear, Shenyang City First Prison—where Mr. Men served his sentence—is infamous for its use of torture and coercive “transformation” tactics designed to force Falun Gong practitioners to renounce their faith.

More deaths in prison

Mr. Men’s death is the fourth known Falun Gong-related death at Shenyang City First Prison in the past three years. The other victims—Mr. Yan Xuguang(閆旭光), Mr. Liu Dianyuan(劉殿元), and Mr. Di Yongchi(翟永池)—each suffered prolonged detention, medical neglect, and physical and mental abuse, exposing a disturbing pattern of systematic mistreatment.

Mr. Yan, 66, from Chaoyang City, died on Oct. 16, 2024, while serving an 11-year sentence for filing a criminal complaint against former CCP leader Jiang Zemin, who ordered the persecution of Falun Gong. After contracting an infectious disease in custody, Mr. Yan was denied medical parole until just days before his death. Authorities transferred him between facilities and withheld information about his condition from his family.

Mr. Liu, 86, also from Chaoyang City, was arrested in 2015. Despite being elderly and in frail health, he was sentenced in 2016 to 11.5 years in prison. In 2022, prison guards called his family to buy diapers for him, revealing his incapacitated state. Nevertheless, they refused to release him on medical grounds. Mr. Liu died in custody on Feb. 10, 2024, Chinese New Year’s Day. 

Liu’s death has drawn international condemnation. U.S. Congressman Chris Smith, chairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, denounced the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong in an interview, saying:
“This is yet another case of the Chinese Communist Party’s cruelty. My condolences go to Mr. Liu. He and all of the Falun Gong practitioners have suffered greatly under CCP rule.”

Mr. Di, 69, a retired engineer from Huludao City, died suddenly on Dec. 17, 2022, while serving a seven-year term. The prison notified his family that he had died after a failed resuscitation attempt but provided no details. His daughter, after viewing his body at a hospital mortuary, hired a lawyer to seek accountability.

These deaths highlight a consistent pattern of neglect, abuse, and cover-up at Shenyang City First Prison, particularly toward detainees of advanced age.

Prison warden implicated

The prison’s current CCP secretary and warden, Cong Chunsheng (叢春生), has been identified as a key perpetrator by the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong, a New York-based non-governmental organization whose mission is to systematically research and compile information about the perpetrators involved in the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.

Since taking office in September 2022, Cong has overseen a campaign of intensified abuse against Falun Gong practitioners. A high-security division within the prison reportedly detains practitioners who refuse to renounce their faith, often in sealed rooms on the fourth floor, where torture is carried out in secret.

Documented torture methods include force-feeding feces and urine, electric shocks to sensitive areas, hanging by the wrists, scalding with boiling water, smashing toes, and scraping ribs. Detainees are also deprived of sleep and restroom use, and in some cases forced to drink from toilets. In addition to physical abuse, they are compelled to watch and listen to defamatory propaganda aimed at breaking their will.

In July 2025, Falun Gong practitioners from 45 countries, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and all 27 EU nations, submitted a new list of perpetrators to their respective governments, urging sanctions and asset freezes for those involved in the persecution, according to Minghui. Cong Chunsheng was among those named.