Ten Deaths from Torture Confirmed in February 2008

It has been confirmed that prior to and during February 2008, ten Falun Gong practitioners died from torture. Three were women, and eight over 50 years old. Three were tortured to death between August and December 2007, and seven died during February. Since the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) persecution of Falun Gong began, 3,137 practitioners' deaths from persecution, torture and constant harassment, have been confirmed in China. Every possible means has been used to hide the truth of the persecution, so the exposed death cases are just the tip of the iceberg.

Since it began on July 20th, 1999, the CCP regime and Jiang Zemin's, [former leader of China and instigator of the persecution] brutal and systemic persecution of Falun Gong practitioners has never stopped. Analysts have pointed out that since the beginning of the CCP's political and dictatorial regime, each time a victim was suppressed, (whether an individual or a group), the whole process would be over in a matter of weeks or months. For the persecution of Falun Gong, the CCP gathered up the most base actions ever known in human history--whether ancient or modern, Chinese or foreign--and employed all of them. But Falun Gong didn't succumb to the repression, and has spread more widely around the world. More and more people have stepped out to support practitioners and stop the CCP's persecution. This persecution of a righteous belief may have already sealed the fate of the CCP itself and may lead to its demise. The CCP has started new waves of persecution again and again, each time calling them by a different name. They tried to maintain the persecution, causing more people to be deceived while covering their crimes. The Beijing Olympic Games are nearly here, and the CCP has used the excuse of having a successful Olympic Games to start another new wave of brutal persecution, calling it a "hard strike."

Recently many Falun Gong practitioners have been searched, arrested and jailed in Beijing, Shanghai, Liaoning Province, Heilongjiang Province, Hebei Province, Jilin Province, Sichuan Province, Chongqing City, Qingdao City, Jinzhou City and many other cities. According to incomplete statistics, in Beijing alone hundreds of practitioners have been arrested recently and brutally beaten for no reason. Many were arrested at home or work and sentenced to forced labour for eight months (which is just when the Olympic Games finish). Even family members and colleagues are implicated and arrested or detained. Cases of death and severe injuries due to persecution are occurring frequently all around China. The CCP's actions have already made the Beijing Olympic Games the true "Bloody Olympic Games."

Death cases which were confirmed in February 2008 happened among the following provinces and cities: three in Heilongjiang Province, two in Hebei Province and Chongqing City respectively, and one each in Liaoning Province, Shandong Province and Shanxi Province.

Two Falun Gong Practitioners Die as a Result of Torture During February in Shuangcheng City, Heilongjiang Province

1. Mr. Yi Fuquan, 45, from Yanhe Village, Jincheng Township in Shuangcheng City, Heilongjiang Province, died on February 23rd, 2008, after years of constant harassment and torture

Yi Fuquan suffered many prison terms, detainments and tortures after the start of the persecution of Falun Gong and was sentenced to one year of forced labour because he went to Beijing to appeal. On August 19th, 2001, he was arrested at the bus station because police found Falun Gong books and flyers in his possession. He was sentenced to six years in prison by the Shuangcheng City Court. His fifteen year-old daughter had to leave school to help support the family. He was first detained in the Harbin City Third Prison and was then transferred to the Tailai Prison on July 1st, 2004.

On July 10th, 2004, the Reform Office leader Jiang Haitao (male) and guard Liu (male, given name unknown) spoke with Mr. Yi and tried to force him to give up cultivating Falun Gong. Mr. Yi absolutely refused. They saw that he would not succumb to brainwashing, so they had prisoners put 35 pound ankle shackles on him and forced him to stand out under the burning sun. Guard Yu Hongtao (male) directed prisoners Zhang Liantao and Wang Wenzhong (both male) to force Mr. Yi to walk rapidly with the shackles. If Mr. Yi did not walk fast enough, Zhang Liantao kicked him very hard. Mr. Yi was out of breath, and his ankles were bleeding. These guards and prisoners also put him on the "big hang up"¹ which caused his arms to lose sensation.

The Tailai Prison guards had already created a way to torture Falun Gong practitioners. They forced the practitioner to lie on the floor and cuffed his four limbs so that they were stretched on a metal structure under the baking sun, and refused to give him a drink. The guards used this method to torture Mr. Yi Fuquan. After a while, they ordered the prisoners to turn Mr. Yi upside down and put three bricks under his feet, elevating his legs over his head for a long while.

Guards tried to force Mr. Yi to write the guarantee statement promising to quit practising Falun Gong, by using all kinds of brutal tortures including cuffing his hands onto a rod and hanging him up. But he refused. Guard Yu Hongtao then hit him with a rubber baton. Prisoners Qu Hongyu and Yu Hongtao twisted Mr. Yi's arms backwards. Another guard Li Yongzhe (male) hit Mr. Yi's face, resulting in bleeding from his nose and mouth.

Due to this long term brutal mistreatment, Mr. Yi began to suffer muscle atrophy in his left hand, and his health deteriorated after September 2005. He could not take care of himself, and he was paralysed and bedridden. He was starving and thirsty all the time since he had to wait until other prisoners could feed him food or water. His family repeatedly asked for medical treatment after learning of his situation, but the prison administration delayed it for a long time. It was not until Mr. Yi was in critical condition that the prison agreed to release him on August 8th, 2007. He suffered in pain for another six months, dying on February 13th, 2008, at the age of 45.

2. Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Liu Quanguo, 50, from Qiansanjiazi Village, Handian Town in Shuangcheng City, Heilongjiang Province, was tortured and died on February 16th, 2008.

Related article: http://www.clearharmony.net/articles/200802/43285.html

Mr. Liu previously suffered from severe liver disease and could not work. After beginning to practise Falun Gong in 1996, all of his illnesses disappeared. He went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong after the persecution began. As a result, he was detained for six months in the Shuangcheng City Detention Centre. Agent Liu Chunyang from the 610 Office² interrogated him repeatedly and ordered prisoners to beat him, and they gave him a concussion and two black eyes. The guards would not give him any bedding, so he slept on the cement floor for three months.

In 2001, Mr. Liu went to Beijing to appeal again. He was detained for one month at the Pingfang Detention Centre in Harbin City. During that month, he was subjected to brutal beatings fifteen times. The prisoners raised his chin on the headboard, tied his hands behind his back, raised his legs up behind him, and forced his stomach to the floor. They then stepped on his body, pulled his head, and punched him in the throat.

The Shuangcheng City 610 Office sentenced Mr. Liu to one year of forced labour and sent him to Changlinzi Forced Labour Camp barefoot. Upon arriving at the camp on January 30th, 2003, he was tortured by being forced to stand outside for 30 minutes, stripped, to freeze. He was forced to do slave labour every day. On one occasion, he was forced to help a welder, who burned his arm with a red-hot welding strip.

On one afternoon in February 2004, Handian Town Government employee Sun Jihua (male, in charge of the persecution) led a group of officials and police officers, including some Shuangcheng City 610 Office agents, to break into Mr. Liu's home. They carried him into their vehicle and detained him in the Shuangcheng City Detention Centre. It was in early February, and the weather was cold. The guards stripped him and poured pan after pan of cold water over his body for long stretches, causing him to shiver and shake.

After being detained for fifteen days, he was sentenced to three years of forced labour and again taken to the Changlinzi Forced Labour Camp. He was first assigned to the Fourth Ward. Warden Ji Gang searched his body and coerced him to write the three statements³ and accept the brainwashing. There were huge water vats sitting in the washing room. Ji Gang led the torture of Mr. Liu, throwing him in the vat, and had prisoners beat his head with a shovel handle and plastic tube, hold his head underwater, and hose cold water on his head while his body was soaked in the vat. Mr. Liu almost froze to death.

Later Mr. Liu was transferred to the Fifth Ward, which is the ward that most severely tortures Falun Gong practitioners. People call Warden Zhao Shuang the "Black Faced Judge " (because of his cruelty). He holds a contract that states the camp will pay him 200 yuan⁴ for every "transformed⁵" Falun Gong practitioner in his ward. He forces detained practitioners to do slave labour and does not allow them to talk. Each has to pack 35 boxes of toothpicks, otherwise they are not allowed to sleep. Mr. Liu became very weak, he could not sit up, and he passed blood in his stool. Zhao Shuang said, "If your family pays, I will let you see a doctor. Otherwise I don't care if you die, and I will never release you or let your family visit you."

Mr. Liu Quanguo endured electric baton shocks and brutal beatings in the camp. He became so weak that he could only walk with two people helping him. His fellow villagers learned about his situation and wrote a letter with lots of signatures on it to appeal of behalf of Mr. Liu Quanguo's good character. Zhao Shuang saw the letter but did not stop the brutality. Instead he kicked Mr. Liu and struck him in the face, making Mr. Liu bleed from his nose and mouth. He said viciously, "You will die as soon as you are released."

Mr. Liu had all the symptoms of pulmonary tuberculosis, total incontinence and unconsciousness. He was finally released from the prison in the autumn 2006, but was in critical condition. He became weaker and weaker and died on February 16th, 2008 at the age of 50.

70 Year-Old Falun Gong Practitioner Hu Zengxiang from Lu County, Shandong Province Persecuted to Death

http://www.clearharmony.net/articles/200802/43322.html

Falun Dafa practitioner Mr. Hu Zengxiang lived in Qiansuozhuang Village, Lu County, Shandong Province. On December 29th, 2007, police and the Qiansuozhuang Village CCP secretary arrested him at his home. His whereabouts were unknown until February 11th, 2008, when he was found dead, bruised and battered, in his home.

Mr. Hu Zengxiang, 70, did not have any children. After he started to practise Falun Gong in 1997, he became very healthy. He was always willing to help his neighbours. Seeing how he improved, his neighbours marvelled at the miraculous effects of Falun Gong.

Mr. Hu benefited greatly from Falun Gong. He never gave up his belief in the principles of Falun Gong -- "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance" -- even when the persecution launched by the Chinese Communist Party became very severe. In spring 2005, Hu Zengxiang was arrested by the local police and detained in the Lu County Detention Centre for a few days. Later he was transferred to Wangcun Forced Labour Camp, where he was detained for more than a month. After he was released, he was very weak due to the brutal persecution he suffered, but he continued to practise Falun Gong and he quickly recovered.

On December 29th, 2007, around ten people from the Public Security Bureau in Lu County and the Guozhuang Township Police Station broke into Mr. Hu's home, ransacked it, and arrested him. They took more than 2,000 yuan in cash, some VCDs, and other leaflets exposing the persecution. Later they suppressed any information about Mr. Hu's case and started rumours such as, "We did not arrest him, he escaped." It is not clear where he was held.

A reliable source said that someone saw Mr. Hu Zengxiang in Qiansuozhuang Village's committee room several days before the New Year. The source said that Mr. Hu was almost too tragic to look at because of how severely he had been tortured: his collarbone was broken, his hands were swollen as big as rice bowls, he had lost one of his toes as a result of frostbite, and he was not able to walk.

On February 11th, 2008, someone visited Hu Zengxiang's home and found his dead body. That was how they discovered that he was tortured to death. No one knows the exact date when he died.

Note

1. "Big hang up": There are two forms in this torture: (1) With both hands cuffed behind the back and only the toes touching the ground, one is hung by a rope that is tied to the metal window frames. (2) One hand of a practitioner is cuffed to one bunk bed and the other hand to another bed, and the two beds are pulled in the opposite directions. One feels extreme pain as the body is pulled.

2. "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.

3. "Three Statements": Practitioners are coerced under brainwashing and torture to write "Repentance Statement," "Guarantee Statement" or 'Dissociation Statement" as proof that they have given up their belief. In the statement, the practitioner is forced to admit remorse for practising Falun Gong, promise to give up Falun Gong, and never again associate with other practitioners or go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong.

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

5. "Reform or Transform" Implementation of brainwashing and torture in order to force a practitioner to renounce Falun Gong. (Variations: "reform", "transform", "reformed", "reforming", "transformed", "transforming", and "transformation")

Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2008/3/5/173693.html