Practitioner Tortured to Death and his 8 Month Pregnant Wife Forced to Have Abortion

It has been verified through a news source in Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, that Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Shen Lizhi from Shenyang City was tortured to death on March 3, 2002 at the hands of perpetrators from Chengdu City "610 Office," who also forced his wife Luo Fang to abort her eight-month-old foetus. The news source revealed that police officers Tian Xinming and others from the Chengdu City "610 Office" are directly responsible for taking these two innocent lives.

Thirty-three-year-old Falun Gong practitioner Shen Lizhi was a tall and strong university graduate. After marring Luo Fang, a woman from Leshan City, Sichuan Province, he moved to Sichuan Province from Shenyang City, Liaoning Province and both Shen Lizhi and Luo Fang practised Falun Gong.

On February 1, 2002, police officers from Yingmenkou Police Station in Chengdu City arrested Mr. Shen Lizhi and his wife on a No. 75 Bus in Chengdu City. They claimed the couple carried Falun Gong materials on them and detained them at the Chengdu Detention Centre.

The news source reveals that Shen Lizhi was fiendishly tortured after being arrested. Perpetrators include but are not limited to Tian Xinming from the "610 Office." Mr. Shen died in the afternoon of March 3, 2002 at Qingyang District People's Hospital yet the Chengdu police were blocking information and didn't notify Shen Lizhi's parents in Shenyang City about his death until one year later, on March 3, 2003, when they told them to pick him up. They never imagined what they were to pick up was only their son's ashes.

The news source also pointed out that police officer Tian Xinming is not the only one responsible for the eventual death of Shen Lizhi and also the death of his unborn child. Shen Lizhi's wife Luo Fang was eight months pregnant at the time of her arrest, and Tian Xinming forced her to have an abortion.

Luo Fang was released from the Chengdu Detention Centre on May 8, 2002 and immediately started looking for her husband. However, when she asked the police and detention centre authorities, they denied Shen Lizhi had ever been detained there. Luo Fang was again arrested on December 5, 2002, this time by police from Leshan City. She was tortured and illegally sentenced to 12 years in prison. They sent her to the Chuanxi Prison in Hongan Town, Longquan, Chengdu City in August 2003 where she has been held ever since.

The source indicated that Qingyang District People's Hospital is affiliated with the Chengdu Detention Centre where many Falun Gong practitioners were sent and abused. Besides Shen Lizhi, other practitioners who have been sent to this hospital and have since died include Ms. Duan Shiqiong, Ms. Hu Hongyue, and Ms. Huang Lisha.

Many other practitioners at this hospital were force-fed and forcibly injected with nerve-damaging drugs.

Recently, a male officer at the Chengdu Detention Centre confirmed Shen Lizhi's death, stating further that, "the cause of his death cannot be explained to the outside." He mentioned that enquiries regarding Shen Lizhi's death should be directed to the "610 Office" because "they know all about this," the officer said.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/1/9/64413.html