• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
  • HOME
  • ABOUT CHINA
    • NEWS
    • TESTIMONIES
    • OP-EDS
    • FEATURED
    • GLOSSARY
    • CHINA PERSECUTION MAP
  • FROM THE WORLD
    • NEWS
    • OP-EDS
    • FEATURED
    • TESTIMONIES
  • INTERVIEWS
  • DOCUMENTS AND TRANSLATIONS
    • DOCUMENTS
    • THE TAI JI MEN CASE
    • TRANSLATIONS
  • EVENTS
  • ABOUT
  • EDITORIAL BOARD
  • TOPICS

Bitter Winter

A magazine on religious liberty and human rights

three friends of winter
Home / China / News China

Death of a Colonel: Falun Gong Military Man Dies of “Natural Causes” in Detention

04/22/2021Yang Feng |

High-profile prisoner of conscience Gong Piqi allegedly died of a “sudden brain hemorrhage,” but his body had telltale signs of torture.

by Yang Feng

Colonel Gong Piqi (from Twitter)
Colonel Gong Piqi (from Twitter).

Colonel Gong Piqi, former deputy chief of staff of the Shandong Provincial Reserve Artillery Division, was one of the highest-profile Falun Gong prisoners of conscience. He was born in Qingdao, Shandong, in 1955.

His brilliant military career came to a halt when the CCP discovered that Gong was a Falun Gong practitioner. He was forced to retire, deprived of his salary, dispossessed of his home, and his children were expelled from school.

On May 13, 2005, he and his wife were arrested by the Qingdao police. His wife was sentenced to five years in jail under Article 300 of the Chinese Criminal Code. Gong was sentenced to five and a half years. When he was released, in 2013, he reported that he had been systematically tortured.

While keeping a low profile, he still practiced Falun Gong privately. In 2017, however, he went to visit a 70-year-old friend called Su Guiha, who was also a Falun Gong practitioner, and kept under surveillance as such. Gong was arrested again on October 17, 2017. His arrest was formalized on November 24, 2017 by the Procuratorate of the North District of Qingdao, and he was detained at the Qingdao City Jimo Pudong Detention Center.

On May 24, 2018, his case was tried by the Qingdao City North District Court, and on July 20 of the same year, he was sentenced to another 7 years and 6 months of imprisonment and a fine of RMB 20,000 for “using a xie jiao,” again under Article 300 of the Chinese Criminal Code. He appealed to the Qingdao Intermediate Court, to no avail.

On the evening of April 12, 2021, his family received an unexpected phone call from Jinan Prison in Shandong Province. They told him Colonel Gong had experienced a “sudden cerebral hemorrhage” and has been moved to Jinan Central Hospital, but had eventually died there.

Relatives protesting the death of Colonel Gong (from Twitter).
Relatives protesting the death of Colonel Gong (from Twitter).

His family and friends went to the hospital. They were initially prevented from seeing Colonel Gong’s body. A few relatives finally managed to see the corpse, and found obvious signs of torture. They found the usual explanation that Gong died of “natural causes” unbelievable.

Tagged With: Falun Gong, Religious Persecution

bw-profile
Yang Feng

Yang Feng uses a pseudonym for security reasons.

Related articles

  • David Lin: China Promises to Free in 2030 American Pastor Detained Since 2006

    David Lin: China Promises to Free in 2030 American Pastor Detained Since 2006

  • Two Sentenced for Attending a Christian Conference in Malaysia

    Two Sentenced for Attending a Christian Conference in Malaysia

  • Covenant Home Church Banned in Shanxi

    Covenant Home Church Banned in Shanxi

  • 安倍暗殺:統一教会はヘイトスピーチと差別の犠牲者である

    安倍暗殺:統一教会はヘイトスピーチと差別の犠牲者である

Keep Reading

  • London Has Now the First Shrine for Persecuted Christians in Europe
    London Has Now the First Shrine for Persecuted Christians in Europe

    An initiative of Father Benedict Kiely, it reminds the world that Christians are the most persecuted minority internationally.

  • Wang Zang and Wang Li: Marry a Poet and Go to Jail
    Wang Zang and Wang Li: Marry a Poet and Go to Jail

    The poet was sentenced for protesting against the repression of Tibetans, Uyghurs, Hong Kong democrats, and Falun Gong practitioners. His wife just for being his wife.

  • Christian from Wenzhou Prosecuted in Sichuan
    Christian from Wenzhou Prosecuted in Sichuan

    Lin Xuesui wanted to be a missionary. He has ended up being a prisoner of conscience.

  • Khalistan Movement Attacks Hindu Temple in Canada
    Khalistan Movement Attacks Hindu Temple in Canada

    Violent extremists claiming the Sikh homeland in India should become an independent state remain a problem in Canada and other countries.

Primary Sidebar

Support Bitter Winter

Learn More

Follow us

Newsletter

Most Read

  • France Joins China and Russia by Introducing Special Police Techniques Against “Cults” by Massimo Introvigne
  • “Socialist Spiritual Civilization”: The Great Comeback of an Old CCP Concept by Hu Zimo
  • The Fate of Tibet After the Inevitable: A Tibetan Opinion by Ugyen Gyalpo
  • Ngaba Prefecture, Sichuan: Massive Re-Education to Prevent Tibetan Self-Immolations by Lopsang Gurung
  • Wang Hai: Miao Christian Pastor Still Harassed and Investigated by Mo Yuan
  • L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology, and the Visual Arts. 7. The Scientologist as Artist by Massimo Introvigne
  • Mark Fino: No Asylum in Japan for Evangelist Threatened in Bangladesh by Tom Eskildsen

CHINA PERSECUTION MAP -SEARCH NEWS BY REGION

clickable geographical map of china, with regions

Footer

EDITORIAL BOARD

Editor-in-Chief

MASSIMO INTROVIGNE

Director-in-Charge

MARCO RESPINTI

ADDRESS

CESNUR

Via Confienza 19,

10121 Turin, Italy,

Phone: 39-011-541950

E-MAIL

We welcome submission of unpublished contributions, news, and photographs. Each submission implies the authorization for us to edit and publish texts and photographs. We reserve the right to decide which submissions are suitable for publication. Please, write to INFO@BITTERWINTER.ORG Thank you.

Newsletter

LINKS

orlir-logo hrwf-logo cesnur-logo

Copyright © 2023 · Bitter Winter · PRIVACY POLICY· COOKIE POLICY