(Clearwisdom.net) Falun Dafa practitioner Mr. Gao Jidong was born on March 7, 1973 and died July 15, 2006. The following is his story.

Gao Jidong graduated from the Finance and Taxation Career School in Jilin Province. He became a staff member at the Foreign Branch of the Changchun Municipal Taxation Bureau in 1996 and began practicing Falun Gong in 1997. After the persecution started in 1999, police officers arrested him twice from work at the urging of 610 Office agents from the Luyuan District. The persecutors sent him to the Xinglongshan brainwashing center in March 2001 and July 2002. Gao Jidong suffered from severe physical persecution and mental torment in the brainwashing class.

Gao Jidong followed the principles of "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" in his work and daily life after he started to practice Falun Gong. He took fame and self-interest lightly and was always willing to help others. His supervisors and coworkers liked and respected him very much. Zhang Lianfang, the general manager of his workplace said to him in 2000, "You really deserve the title 'model worker.' The only thing that disqualifies you is that you practice Falun Gong."

Because Gao Jidong handled things promptly, his clients, mostly representatives responsible for turning in taxes from other companies, would give him gifts or money to express their gratitude. He refused to accept any of them. Even when his clients secretly put money in his desk he would send it back as soon as he discovered it. Some people didn't understand why he refused to take the "gratuity." Gao Jidong told them, "I am a Falun Dafa practitioner. It is morally incorrect for me to do that. I don't accept any gifts or money that I have not earned."

Agents from a local police station requested Gao Jidong to go see them on October 30, 1999. Once there, chief Zheng repeatedly asked him whether or not he would continue to practice Falun Gong. He even slapped him twice and grabbed his hair and banged his head against a wall. Following the interrogation, Gao Jidong was sent to the Daguang Detention Center simply because he openly expressed his views.

Fifteen days later the authorities transferred Gao Jidong to the local police station again. The police and neighborhood administration office people tried to coerce him into giving up his belief in Falun Dafa. He clarified truth to them in a noble and dignified manner. The police and administrators were completely at a loss for words. While in the police station Gao Jidong was continuously handcuffed to a radiator. In the evening he was sent to the detention center again and not released until two weeks later.

Gao Jidong went to Beijing alone in December 2000 to appeal, based on the injustices he and some of his fellow practitioners had to endure. He was arrested there and held in the Changping District. The police did not know what to do with him because he refused to reveal his name and address and staged a hunger strike. They released him three days later.

In March 2001, Gao Jidong refused to attend a meeting that was intended to slander Falun Dafa. Before leaving work in the afternoon on March 6, 2001 lawless personnel at his work place sent him to the Xinglongshan brainwashing class where he suffered torture. He remained clear-minded when suffering torture and refuted the lies in the brainwashing class. When elderly people and women were suffering from torture he always spoke out to stop the brutality. Evildoing police officer Zheng Zhen got very angry at him and beat him savagely. This left his face twisted and his eyes swollen and bloodied. The brainwashing class officials were afraid to let Gao Jidong's family visit him. As a way of torment, they forbade him to take showers in the hot summer.

As of mid-July 2001, Gao Jidong went on a hunger strike to protest the inhumane persecution, such as being forbidden to go to the restroom at night. He became emaciated and started to have abnormal symptoms. On the evening of July 21, 2001, he was sent to the Changchun Municipal Hospital. His family was notified. When Gao Jidong's family members rushed to the hospital, the agents from the Luyuan District "610 Office" and the brainwashing class all left the hospital because they were afraid to take responsibility. After Gao Jidong's release from the hospital, he was forbidden by his work unit to go back to work.

In June 2002, Mr. Gao requested to go back to work, a request the general manager approved. Two weeks later a supervisor had a one-on-one meeting with him at work and was planning to send him to a brainwashing class. Gao Jidong recounted his personal experience of suffering persecution in the brainwashing class. He also spoke of the sole purpose of these brainwashing classes - that the sole purpose for their existence is to persecute people; and there is no way one can reason with the persecutors.

Mr. Gao decided not to go to work any more lest he would be subjected to persecution again. At the same time he wrote to the general manger of his workplace to explain the situation and called the Luyuan District "610 Office" to report to them the persecution he was subjected to in the brainwashing class.

Several days later, people from Mr. Gao's workplace called him and told him that he may go back to work, as approved by several managers. Only ten days after he had returned to work, agents from the Jincheng Police Department arrested him from work at 2:00 p.m. on July 23, 2002. After intensive interrogation and intimidation, the persecutors locked him in the basement of the Jincheng Police Department and handcuffed him to a metal chair for the whole night.

Gao Jidong's family members went to the police department the next day to demand his release. The police lied to them, saying that they didn't know anything. It was only after Gao Jidong's family checked with his employers did they find out that Gao Jidong was sent to the Xinglongshan brainwashing class again. The second arrest was a result of a conspiracy between people from Gao Jidong's workplace and the police department. Wang Mao, the then general manager of the taxation bureau was personally involved in this incident.

Gao Jidong started a protest hunger strike on the first day of his arrest. The staff in the brainwashing class tortured him with brutal force-feeding. According to other practitioners who were held there at the same time, every time Gao Jidong suffered from force-feeding, his tragic screams could be heard on the second floor. Policeman Chen Wenzhuan stabbed a pen into his ears. They force-fed him twice a day, five days in a row. Gao Jidong started to vomit blood. The police were afraid that he may die from the torture and stopped the force-feeding.

At the end of 2002, Mr. Gao was reduced to a skeleton and was barely recognizable. To shift responsibility, the evildoing CCP members at the brainwashing class called in his father and used all kinds of excuses to cover up their crimes. They deceived and coerced Gao's father to sign an agreement that stated that Gao Jidong should be subjected to "continued force-feeding and intravenous injection of glucose or salt." Gao Jidong's father didn't want him to suffer more torture and reluctantly wrote, "agree to have intravenous injection."

The vicious police stretched Gao Jidong's limbs in four different directions, wrapped him with several layers of tape onto a metal bed and gave him intravenous infusions all day long. Whenever his life was in danger, the police would take him to a hospital for an exam and claimed that the result showed he was not in danger. Once, six people stood on his arms and legs at the same time. They also put a chair on his chest and a cruel man named Shen sat on the chair, fracturing his ribs.

On August 6, 2002, the police thought Gao Jidong was dying. They forced Gao Jidong's family to pay them money and then sent him to the hospital for the third time. The examination showed Gao Jidong suffered from electrolyte disorder, severe heart failure, stomach damage and lung damage.

Gao Jidong had suffered repeated torture and humiliation in the brainwashing class, but he was very firm in his belief in Dafa. After two weeks on a hunger strike, he got out of the brainwashing class with the power of his righteous thoughts.

During this second round of torture in the 2002 brainwashing class, Gao Jidong suffered tremendously, both physically and mentally. Thus, he opted to live in exile for four years to avoid being persecuted. The tremendous pressure and daily mental stress made him live in constant terror.

In June 2006, Gao Jidong was forced to register his residency at his rented place. Gao Jidong had to become homeless again to avoid arrest. His health deteriorated. He passed away on July 15, 2006.

Telephone numbers of responsible organizations:

Foreign Branch of the Changchun Municipal Taxation Bureau
Address: 1845 Xi'an Road, Changchun, 130061
Tel: 86-431-8507935, 8582170, 8582245, 8582264, 8582230
Anqing Police Station: 86-431-5983666, 5903360, 5903731