Police Torture Practitioner Zou Wenzhi from Dalian City to Death; Officials Try to Buy His Family Members' Silence

Practitioner Zou Wenzhi from Dalian City, died at the age of 54 after being beaten and tortured by police who were trying to force him to give up his belief in Falun Dafa. He had been an assistant engineer at the Alkali Manufacturing Plant of the Dahua Corporation, Dalian City, Liaoning Province. Mr. Zou lived in the Juxin District of Jinzhou County and started to practise Falun Gong in 1995. On October 16, 2000, Dalian's No.2 Police Department, along with security personnel from his own company, arrested and beat him.

Zou Wenzhi was beaten from 8:00 am until after 3:00 pm that afternoon. At dusk, the head of his department went to Zou Wenzhi's home and lied to his wife, saying "Your husband suddenly died from a heart attack." His wife declared that Zou Wenzhi had never had a heart problem. When the entire family went to the mortuary to see Zou Wenzhi's body, they could not even recognise the original colour of his skin, which was covered with bruises and injuries from the beating. The medical examiner verified that, although the skin had not been broken, he had suffered severe damage to all of his organs, including his heart. His spine was broken, as well. At the home of Zou Wenzhi's parents, deputy director Jiang of the 2nd division of the local police department, who was the person that beat Mr. Zou to death, knelt down in front of Mr. Zou's parents and wife and abased himself by slapping his own face. He tried to give 20,000 Yuan to buy Mr. Zou's parents' silence, but they refused to accept it.

Realising that this was a terrible crime, they tried to block the news. They secretly cremated Zou Wenzhi's body and did not allow anyone other than his relatives to attend his funeral. They also arranged to have over ten police cars, regular cars, and minivans monitor the funeral procession.

On the one hand, Dalian City's No. 2 Police Department and the Dahua Corporation spread lies claiming Zou Wenzhi committed suicide and threatened his family and relatives. On the other hand, they offered to compensate the family with 200,000 Yuan, upgrade Mr. Zou's family's house and give his son a job in an effort to hide their guilt.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.cc/mh/articles/2003/5/2/49524.html