Ms. Zhao Chunying from Heilongjiang Province Murdered in 2003, Three of Her Organs Removed

1. Organs Harvested

Police and prison doctor Wang Lijun murdered Ms. Zhao Chunying, a Falun Dafa practitioner from Jixi City, Heilongjiang Province, four years ago during her 23 days of detention at Hengshan District Police Station and Jixi City Second Detention Centre. Her family members asked that an autopsy be performed to determine the cause of death. It was discovered that Ms. Zhao's heart, spleen, and pancreas had been removed. Although family members were stopped from continuing their lawsuit against the murderers, many people continue to show quite an interest in this case after four years.

People who understand the truth of the persecution today reported that the three organs were taken by Jixi City Procuratorate and Main Hospital of Jixi Mining Groups and made into human organ specimens. International human rights groups are investigating the case.

2. The Murder of Ms. Zhao Chunying

Ms. Zhao Chunying was murdered on May 10, 2003, at the age of 54.

Ms. Zhao began to practise Falun Dafa in April 1998. She suffered from two-sided thighbone necrosis and had two surgeries, scale ringworms, and dizziness. She was partially disabled and had problems walking. After practising Falun Gong, her diseases were cured. She could walk just like a normal person and could carry heavy loads without any problem. The skin on her legs used to look like fish scales, but became smooth within a short period of time. Those who knew her were surprised. Her dizziness disappeared, as well.

On July 20th, 1999, Jiang Zemin's regime began to persecute Falun Gong in China. In June of 2000, Ms. Zhao Chunying took part in a group exercise and was arrested and detained for more than 40 days. On December 10th, 2000, Ms. Zhao went to Beijing, appealing for the right to practise Falun Gong. She was detained for 15 days in the Hengshan District. On January 9th, 2001, she was taken to Harbin's Wanjia Forced Labour Camp. Local police arrested her again after claiming that she was telling people about the persecution over the Internet.

At about 7 p.m. on April 15th, 2003, Yu Baoshan, the director of local Hengshanjie Police Station, and four other police arrested Ms. Zhao. They handcuffed her to heating pipes at the police station. No further details are known about the torture she suffered there.

On April 17th, Ms. Zhao was taken to Jixi City Second Detention Centre. The policewoman in charge of cell no. 11 was Liu Lizhi. Among the 30 prisoners in that cell, more than 20 were practitioners. Ms. Zhao and other practitioners often told other prisoners how good Falun Dafa is. Those people admired the practitioners.

On April 30th, Gong Xihai, the chief of the public security office at the Hengshan District Police Station, brought several police to the detention centre to monitor Ms. Zhao. They tried to fingerprint her but Ms. Zhao refused. Police said before they left: "After May 1st, you will be all sent to a labour camp."

Ms. Zhao Chunying began a hunger strike to protest her detention. The next day all of the practitioners in the cell also went on a hunger strike and demanded their unconditional release.

At around 3 p.m. on May 7th, Wang Lijun, a prison doctor of the Second Detention Centre, brought a dozen policemen. They cruelly force-fed the practitioners on hunger strike. They ordered non-practitioner prisoners to do the force-feeding, five prisoners to a practitioner. They almost choked several people to death.

Wang Lijun made the liquid for force-feeding by mixing a small amount powdered milk with strong salty water. She poured the liquid into plastic bottles and took a pair of scissors and a screwdriver to open practitioners' mouths, and then ordered other male prisoners (non-practitioners) to pour the liquid directly from the bottle into practitioners' mouths, sometimes one bottle, sometimes two.

Some prisoners who knew the facts about Falun Gong did not act as fast as Wang Lijun's ordered. Wang beat them and made them kneel down on the cold, hard cement floor for more than an hour. In the evening, all of the practitioners who were force-fed with the liquid coughed violently, had dry lips and their skin began to peel. Ms. Zhao Chunying was coughing especially hard. The next day, May 8th, she ran a fever. Prison guards notified the prison doctor Wang Lijun several times. Wang refused to provide treatment.

On the afternoon of May 9th, Wang and a dozen policemen came to cell number 11. Since Wang felt the prisoners in room 11 did not cooperate, she brought 10 prisoners from cell 12 to help with the second round of force-feeding. At that time, Ms. Zhao was running a high fever and was unconscious. Wang told other prisoners to drag Ms. Zhao to the side. Someone told her that Ms. Zhao had a high fever. Wang said she would give her some fever reliever. Wang took some white powder and mixed it into strong salty water, and forcefully fed two bottles into Ms. Zhao. Ms. Zhao coughed harder and groaned in pain.

Policewoman Liu Lizhi heard Ms. Zhao's groans and kicked and insulted her. At 11 p.m. Ms. Zhao was still groaning in pain. Gao Yueying, a prisoner and the leader of the room, told other prisoners to cover Ms. Zhao's mouth with a comforter. Others reminded Gao several times that Ms. Zhao may need medical treatment but Gao refused to report it.

At about 4 a.m. on May 10th, night guard Yu Xiulan told Gao Yueying that Ms. Zhao had become quiet. Gao scolded Yu and said: "Cover her mouth." The night guard was scared of Gao and she pulled up the quilt to Ms. Zhao's mouth with trembling hands. A practitioner got up and took the quilt away from Ms. Gao's mouth. Several people woke up and noticed Ms. Zhao had stopped groaning and that she had stopped breathing. It was only about 5 or 6 minutes. They tried artificial respiration but did not succeed.

At 5 a.m. on May 10th, a dozen policemen came and tied Ms. Zhao's body to a stretcher. They tied the rope so tight that it left marks on her body. Wang Guocai, the director of the detention centre, talked to Gao Yueying and the night guard, and advised them to tell the same story when it was being investigated. They had to say Ms. Zhao had no fever and no one reported she had fever. Wang ordered everyone to keep quiet about what happened.

A few days later, the city Procuratorate, 610 office¹, and some leaders of the second detention centre asked the night guards about Ms. Zhao's death, but they all hid the true story.

At about 7 a.m. on May 10th, Ms. Zhao's husband Wang Furen heard about the death of his wife. He rushed to Jixi Railway Hospital with their children. Mr. Wang saw the painful expression on his wife's face, and he opened her clothing. He noticed purple bruises all over her body. Her eyes were not closed. There was an injury on her head that was bloody. Several ribs were broken. He realised what happened to his wife during the past 23 days. He decided to get proof of this crime. Police told him not to take photographs. But Mr. Wang quickly borrowed a camera and took pictures, which showed the injuries on the surface of Ms. Zhao's body. Some have been published on the Minghui/Clearwisdom website.

No one explained the injuries to his wife's body, so Mr. Wang filed a lawsuit. He found out that most lawyers dared not accept the case. Finally he found a lawyer who was willing to take on the case. Li Yugang, the CCP secretary of the city politics and law enforcement office, and Yang Daren, the head of the city "610 office", revoked the lawyer's licence soon after. Mr. Wang Furen then found another lawyer who was willing to take the case.

During this period, the daughter of Ms. Zhao Chunying went to the city police station, city politics and law enforcement office, Procuratorate, court, 610 office, the city's People's Congress, and city government for an explanation of her mother's death. Not one official came forward. She then went to the provincial police office. The guards did not allow her to go in. She knelt in front of the office for a long time and explained her mother's case, but with no result. She contacted lawyers, called the Heilongjiang provincial TV station, and CCTV's law channel. They all first answered her that they could help her, but as soon as they heard her mother was a Falun Gong practitioner, two TV stations hung up on her. She went to Beijing and visited the Enquiry Office twice; each time she was told to go back to the local office to resolve the problem.

Three of Ms. Zhao's internal organs had been removed. Some department heads tried to tell the family members to just ask for money, but not to file a lawsuit.

798 days after Ms. Zhao Chunying's death, her family members could not go on with the mental pressure and the heavy debt, and they were forced to accept 55,000 yuan², (20,000 yuan from the Procuratorate and 35,000 yuan from the police station) in exchange for withdrawing the lawsuit.

Note

1. "The 610 office" is an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems.

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.ca/mh/articles/2007/6/7/156416.html