Former Manager of a Forest Products Company Persecuted to Death in Prison

Name: Li Shangshi

Gender: Male

Age: 65

Address: Longtai District, Panjin City, Liaoning Province

Occupation : Manager, Panjin City Forest Products Industry Company
Date of Death: November 22nd, 2013

Date of Most Recent Arrest: April 20th, 2004
Most Recent Place of Detention: Shenyang City No. 1 Prison
City: Panjin

Province: Liaoning

Persecution Suffered : Electric shock, forced labour, beatings, imprisonment, solitary confinement, torture, force-feedings, physical restraint, interrogation, detention, and denied visitation

Key Persecutors: Lian Jie (连杰), Li Guohua (李国华), Ma Li(马力) and Dong Hexuan(董贺轩)

Mr. Li Shangshi, 65, was arrested in 2004 and sentenced to a 14-year prison term. He was first held in the Fushun City No. 2 Prison and later in the Shenyang City No. 1 Prison in 2008 and held in the strictly monitored division. He was persecuted to death on November 22nd, 2013.

Mr. Li's home was in the Longtai District, Panjin. He was a former manager at the Panjin City Forest Products Industry Company. Back in March of 2000 he was sentenced to three and a half years of forced labour for refusing to renounce Falun Gong.

Mr. Li's daughter, Ms. Li Hongshu, an employee of the Panyin City No. 1 People's Hospital, was sentenced to a ten-year prison term for practising Falun Gong.

Arrest and Sentence

When Mr. Li was out riding his bike on April 20th, 2004, four people jumped out of nowhere and pushed him down. They took him first to the Shuangtaizi District Police Department in Panjin and then to the Panjin City Third Detention Centre.

Mr. Li was put in solitary confinement in the detention centre. Three days later, two officers, one of them being Lian Jie from the Panjin City Police Department, interrogated him. When he refused to cooperate, Lian slapped him with both hands and then punched him in the chest above his heart. Mr. Li fell down and cried out, so Lian had to stop. Mr. Li was taken back to the solitary cell despite his heart pain.

Li Guohua, an officer from the Panjin City Police Department, and another officer interrogated him again the next day. He only said one sentence during the whole interrogation, “The government has never dealt with Falun Gong practitioners based on the law, so I refuse to answer any questions.” He was never interrogated again. They handed in some made-up documents to the Procuratorate.

Mr. Li was tried by chief judge Ma Li at the beginning of September 2004. Ma Li, who had already participated in the persecution of Falun Gong for many years, sentenced Mr. Li to a 14-year prison term.

Imprisoned and Persecuted to Death

Mr. Li was taken to the Fushun City No. 2 Prison on September 28th, 2004. Later, he was transferred to several different prisons. He was tortured in many ways and was forced to do hard labour. Once he was on a hunger strike for 28 days. He was tied to the death bed for force-feeding. His stomach was damaged with the feeding tube.

When Mr. Li was transferred to the Shenyang City No. 1 Prison in June 2010, he was confined to a solitary cell after he was shocked with electric batons. Division chief Dong Hexuan ordered the guards to give three practitioners little food and hold them in a solitary cell, including Mr. Li, since they refused to renounce Falun Gong. His family was not allowed to visit him.

Mr. Li was later transferred to the strictly monitored division. He vomited blood on November 22nd, 2013, and was taken to the prison hospital. He was then transferred to a regular hospital and died the same day.

Prison officials claimed that Mr. Li died from tuberculosis. The officials of the Shenyang City First Prison must bear the responsibility for Mr. Li's death.

Mr. Li's Daughter Persecuted

Mr. Li's daughter, Ms. Li Hongshu, was sentenced to three years of forced labour in 1999 and held in the infamous Masanjia Forced Labour Camp. She was sentenced to a ten-year prison term in 2002 and detained in the Shenyang City Women's Prison. She was subjected to brutal mental and physical torture. When Mr. Li's wife went to visit her, she was often not allowed to see her.

When her mother went to visit her on November 20th, 2007, the guard told her that Ms. Li was strictly monitored and not allowed to see family members. Her mother finally saw her on January 9th, 2008, but was surprised that the right side of her face was swollen and her right eye had become very small. The left side of her face had caved in and she looked emaciated. She had difficulty walking, standing, or sitting.

Ms. Li was finally released in 2012.