The Tragic Death of Falun Dafa Practitioner Ms Sun Yuhua

Ms. Sun Yuhua was a resident of Anshan City, Liaoning Province. She was 37 years old when she was tortured to death. She was a driver for the Construction Company under Anshan Steel Corporation. After learning Falun Dafa in June 1994, she persisted in her cultivation, and actively participated in activities to promote Falun Dafa. She was a responsible employee at work and was diligent in improving herself through cultivation.

Right after the persecution started on July 20, 1999, when Anshan City Police arrested practitioners by the busload, Ms. Sun went to the square in front of the city government offices to tell the government officials about the goodness of Falun Dafa. The police arrested her along with many other practitioners, and drove them to a local stadium, detaining them there for a day. In October 1999, Ms. Sun went to Beijing to appeal and was arrested by the police. She was detained and beaten at the No. 3 Detention Centre of Anshan City. Ms. Sun held a hunger strike for many days to protest before she was released.

In October 2001, officers from the Jiefang Police Station and Sun's work unit abducted her and took her to the Anshan City Brainwashing Centre. Ms. Sun immediately told the guards that she wanted to go home to change clothes. Police followed her home, but Sun refused to open the door and let them in. They waited around her building, and intended to arrest her when she came out. Ms. Sun escaped with the help of fellow practitioners. She then stayed away from home to avoid being persecuted. The police station often sent people to harass her family members and determine her whereabouts. In April 2004, police arrested her husband for reading a leaflet exposing the persecution at home. He was sentenced to two years of forced labour at Yuemingshan Forced Labour Camp in Anshan City.

On June 19, 2002, a person with surname Wang called Ms. Sun's family members from Jiefang Police Station, telling them that Ms. Sun had been arrested. The next day, Sun's family members went to the police department together with Sun's workplace. On their way there, they learned that Ms. Sun had been sent to a hospital and was in critical condition. Her family members then asked to take her home for medical treatment. After they arrived at the police station, the officials decided to release Ms. Sun after a long discussion. They made her family sign the release document. When they arrived at the Hospital, they discovered that Ms. Sun was in a coma. Her family members stayed at the hospital for two days with her, but Ms. Sun's condition did not improve. Plainclothes police came to the hospital to harass Ms. Sun and her family members several times a day. Her family members then hired a taxi and took her home. Ms. Sun's condition started to improve immediately after she returned home. She regained her consciousness and told family members of her experience. When she refused to tell the officers her name, she was beaten severely. The infected wound on her buttocks was the size of her fist. Slowly the wound healed, but numbness in her right leg remained, which caused her to limp.

According to Ms. Sun Yuhua, someone knocked on the door of a site where leaflets exposing the persecution were produced one day in June 2002. When practitioners opened the door, the police came in. There was a lot of equipment and some money at the site, all of which was confiscated by the police. They also arrested practitioners who worked at other sites. Practitioners were taken to a detention centre. The ones who refused to tell their names were brutally tortured. Police slapped their faces, poured cold water on them, and ordered inmates to beat them all over their bodies with the soles of their shoes. The female practitioners were stripped naked and had to stand by the door, so that all the police and inmates could see them. Later, Ms. Sun held an extended hunger strike and fell into a coma. The officials then sent her to a hospital.

Before she could recover, a policeman, Ji Chongzhe, pried open Ms. Sun's front door on October 18, 2002, and broke into her home to arrest her. When Ms. Sun shouted out "Falun Dafa is good," the police beat her and took her to the Liaoyang Detention Centre. After the incident, Ji Chongzhe was immediately promoted to a position in the Dengta City Police Department. The police soon reported Ms. Sun's case to the Dengta City Procurator, and her case was soon forwarded to the city court. The (Dengta) city court then reported the case to the Liaoning Province 610 Office (1). On March 11, 2003, Ms. Sun was sentenced to four years in jail. When her family members visited her on March 28, 2003, Ms. Sun was in good physical and mental condition.

On April 4, 2003, Ms. Sun and other practitioners, who were sentenced together with her, were transferred to Dabei Prison in Shenyang City. Ms. Sun's family members went to the prison to visit her on April 9. The Deputy director did not allow Ms. Sun's family members to see her, saying that she suffered from heart disease and could not eat, and had been sent to the prison hospital. Ms. Sun never had heart disease, so her family members repeatedly requested to see her. Wang refused their requests. At around 9:00 p.m. on April 11, 2003, a policeman called Ms. Sun's family members and told them that she was in critical condition. The police staff told them to come immediately to see Ms. Sun and left a phone number (86-24-88905785). The family members immediately called Wang Xiuhong, but Wang said that Ms. Sun was fine, and she told the family members to wait for the phone calls at home.

At around 3:00 p.m. the next day, Ms. Sun's husband, Mr. Chen Chunlong, (who was detained in Yuemingshan Forced Labour Camp at the time) went to the home of Ms. Sun's father together with two guards from Yuemingshan Forced Labour Camp. They told Ms. Sun's father that Ms. Sun passed away on April 11, 2003. The work unit of Ms. Sun's husband dispatched a car and drove him to Dabei Prison. Other family members arrived that same night. Guards in Dabei Prison said that Ms. Sun died at the No. 1 Hospital of Shenyang City from heart disease, and they planned to cremate her body the next day. Her family members strongly opposed, but officers from Dabei Prison said that because Ms. Sun died during her jail term, they had the right to decide everything. They also refused to let the family members view her body that night. In this environment of threats and lies, the family members had to agree to wait until the following day to see the body.

On the morning of April 13, 2003, when the cover on Ms. Sun's body was removed, they could smell an odour. Her family members took off the inmate uniform and saw the underwear she had on was very small, very dirty and not even hers. Her hair smelled like it had just been washed, her body was swollen, both eyes as well as her mouth were open, two parallel bruises were present on the upper-left corner to the lower-right corner of her face, her face was yellowish-white and hardened, her abdomen was swollen, the front of her body was covered with numerous, densely packed, dark purple bruises measuring about five square inches each, and seemed to be injuries from pliers. When her body was turned over, some dark red fluid came out of her mouth. Her back was also covered with the same dark purple bruises. There was a black-purple bruise behind her ears. In her armpit, there were many red dots, her buttocks was swollen and red in colour, with some blisters, and had a smell of burnt flesh - possibly from an electric baton. On her arms were 1-1/2 inch wide black-purple marks and deep cuts left by ropes, possibly from being hung up in the air for extended periods of time.

Obviously, Ms. Sun Yuhua was tortured to death, but the police insisted that she died of heart disease. Ms. Sun was only 37 years old and had no history of heart disease. After only a few days in Dabei Prison, she was dead.

Ms. Sun believed in "Truthfulness, Benevolence, Forbearance," strived to be a truly good person, and spread the goodness of Falun Dafa to the people who had been deceived by the lies the Chinese government.

She is survived by her 13-year-old son Chen Zhengyang. A happy family was thus torn apart.

Chen Zhengyang is currently staying with his grandparents. When his mother was tortured to death in April 2003, his father was also at a forced labour camp. He used to study the teachings of Falun Dafa with his mother, but he stopped after his mother was forced to leave home to avoid persecution in October 2001.

People were shocked by the news of Ms. Sun's passing. They could not believe that such a good person was tortured to death.

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.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2005/4/1/98600.html