Falun Dafa Practitioners Ms. Shen Zili and Ms. Xu Hongmei from Heilongjiang Province Die From Persecution -- Their Bodies Hastily Cremated Under Police Watch

Police unlawfully arrested Falun Dafa practitioners Ms. Xu Hongmei and Ms. Shen Zili, and brutally tortured them for five days. As a result, they lapsed into a deep coma and passed away on February 27th, 2007. Their bodies were hastily cremated between 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. on March 1st, 2007, under police watch.

Xu Hongmei	Shen Zili

Zhang Hang, Longsha District Police Department deputy head in Qiqihar City led a large group of plainclothes police officers. They drove to the crematorium on the morning of March 1, 2007. Xu Hongmei's nine-year-old daughter Tian Tian wore black silk on her arm [custom of mourning] and held her mother's picture in her hands. People cried when they saw the little girl. Many police officers watched Xu Hongmei's family as they paid final respects. The following are details:

Practitioners Ms. Xu Hongmei and Ms. Shen Zili were arrested on February 13th, 2007. Participating in the arrest were officer Yi Zhanhui and others from the Qingyun Street Police Station. The practitioners were shackled and taken to the Inpatient Department of the No. 2 Hospital. Their families took care of them at their bedside. When the families asked about the black and purple bruises all over the practitioners' bodies, the police answered by saying that the practitioners had hit themselves against hard objects.

Shen Zili and Xu Hongmei, who were at the brink of death, told their families that the officers at the Qinglong Street Police Station including Yi Zhanhui had beaten them for five days. Xu Hongmei was hung by her handcuffs, and also hung with her handcuffs behind her back. She was further tied in a spread eagle position and locked in a metal cage. After she lost consciousness, the police poured cold water on her and resumed the torture once she came to. Shen Zili was wrapped and immobilised in a chair with tape. The police hit her head against a wall until she lost consciousness. They savagely beat her when she regained consciousness. Shen Zili and Xu Hongmei were treated at a police hospital and then transported to the Qiqihar City Detention Centre. They were taken to Qiqihar City No. 2 Hospital's Inpatient Ward on February 17th, 2007 due to severe internal injuries. Both had blood coming from their mouths and were coughing blood. They later went into convulsions. Their bodies swelled and then they lapsed into deep comas. While in a deep coma, Xu Hongmei sobbed constantly, and tears streamed down her face despite her lack of response to external stimulus.

On the afternoon of February 27th, 2007, Shen Zili and Xu Hongmei's family members stood around the two practitioners and cried when a police officer shouted, "Why are they are not dead yet?" The sorrowful families condemned the officer, who left the room. Xu Hongmei and Shen Zili passed away at 4:30 p.m. and 8:50 p.m. respectively on February 27th, 2007.

Ms. Xu Hongmei was born in 1971 and started practising Falun Gong in 1995. She met another practitioner, Mr. Sun Weimin from the No. 1 Machine Factory in Qiqihar City, and they got married. Xu Hongmei gave birth to a daughter, Tian Tian, in 1999. After the Communist regime began persecuting Falun Gong on July 20th, 1999, Xu Hongmei was arrested, detained five times and held in a labour camp for three years. She was savagely tortured at the Shuanghe Women's Forced Labour Camp in Qiqihar City. The cruel abuse left her unable to walk. She was forbidden from meeting with her family during the three years. Her husband Sun Weimin was sentenced to 13 years in prison and is now held at the Tailai Prison. Their daughter Tian Tian was confined in the abandoned dormitory of a gear factory along with her parents since she was one year old. The dormitory did not have any heat. Tian Tian grew up in terror and fear.

Practitioner Shen Zili was cruelly tortured at the Shuanghe Women's Forced Labour Camp in Qiqihar City. Officers from the Tiefeng Police Department, who were hiding in the area arrested her on April 2nd, 2006. She was taken to the Shuguang Police Station where she was tortured with the tiger bench¹, "five horses split the body," bamboo sticks and metal pipes. The guards also hit her thighs with hammers. Guard Sheng Tao whipped the soles of her feet with a bamboo plank about five inches wide until she lost consciousness from pain. Shen Zili lost consciousness many times during the torture. The guards also poured cold water on her and burned her with cigarettes. Officers from Tiefeng Police Department and from the Shuguang Police Station extorted more than 23,000 yuan² from Shen Zili's family.

Qiqihar City
Longsha Police Department: 86-452-2467711
Li Zheng: Longsha Police Department head
Zhang Hang: Longsha Police Department
Gong Yanhui: Qingyun Street Police Station head
Zhou Huanyu: Qingyun Street Police Station deputy head
Yi Zhanhui: police officer in charge of this case
Qingyun Street Police Station: 86-452-2423571
Qiqihar City Detention Centre: 86-452-2632345
Longsha District Politics and Law Committee: 86-452-2331431
Sun Yusheng, Qiqihar City Police Department head: 86-452-2486001 (Office), 86-13704527001 (Mobile)
Song Huanlong, Qiqihar City 610 Office: 86-452-2791608 (Office), 86-452-2817904 (Home)
Ma Wen: 86-452-2791613 (Office), 86-452-8395388 (Home)

Note

1. "Tiger Bench": Prisoners are forced to sit on a small iron bench that is approximately 20 cm (6 inches) tall with their knees tied together. With their hands tied behind their backs or sometimes placed on their knees, they are forced to sit straight up and look straight ahead without movement for long periods of time.

2. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2007/3/3/150073.html