Fearing Exposure of the Truth, the CCP Killed Falun Dafa Practitioner Ms. Gao Rongrong

After I heard the shocking news that Ms. Gao Rongrong was tortured to death on June 16th, 2005 in Shenyang City, I was filled with indignation. To destroy the evidence of their crime, the persecutors actively pressured Ms. Gao's family members to have the body cremated. This is a clear indication that they are in great fear of their crimes being exposed.

Falun Dafa practitioner Gao Rongrong was sent to the Longshan Forced Labour Camp in July 2003. On May 7th, 2004, Tang Yubao, deputy head of the No. 2 Brigade, and team leader Jiang Zhaohua called Ms. Gao Rongrong to the duty office and shocked her with electric batons for 6-7 hours, from 3:00 p.m. to after 9:00 p.m. She sustained burns on her face, head and neck, which caused her face to swell and become disfigured. Her face was covered with blisters, her hair was matted with blood and pus adhering to her scorched skin. She could only open her eyes a crack because of the swollen face and her mouth was severely swollen and deformed. Even inmates who had lived with her day and night for a long time could not recognise her. On October 5th, 2004, many Falun Dafa practitioners who were involved in the successful rescue of Ms. Gao Rongrong were taken into custody. The rescuers were able to publish her photo, showing how her face had been injured by shocks from electric batons while she was held in the Longshan Labour Camp. The news of this atrocity drew attention worldwide.

I recall vividly that when I was taking part in activities to reveal the facts of the persecution in New York City a few months ago, I held a poster board displaying Ms. Gao's photos while walking the streets of the city and telling people about the persecution suffered by practitioners. Many people were deeply shocked and wanted to hear more details once they saw the healthy, beautiful, and happy Ms. Gao, and next to it the appalling photo after she had been shocked with electric batons. Passersby immediately slowed down and read the words on the board. This, like nothing else could show people how brutal the persecution was in China.

Fearing exposure of their crimes, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) retaliated against the practitioners who had disclosed the facts about Ms. Gao's torture. Around March 8th, 2005, Ms. Gao was arrested again. Under Luo Gan's direction, the Political and Judiciary Committee of Liaoning Province, the 610 Office (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), the Procuratorate, the Judiciary Department, and the Public Security Department cooperated closely to cover up the news of Rongrong's suffering. In addition, all practitioners who were active in the rescue effort of Rongrong were arrested and persecuted cruelly. One official from the Judiciary Department said: "Luo Gan gave the order that this incident (the exposure of Rongrong's being electrically shocked and disfigured) has too great of an impact on the world. He asked us to "properly deal with it" ("it" means strengthening the persecution secretly). On June 16th, 2005, Ms. Gao Rongrong was tortured to death.

In order to avoid worldwide condemnation, the CCP has been actively suppressing the truth about the persecution. They murdered Ms. Gao hastily, although she was already on the verge of death. This action showed that the CCP will stop at no evil to prevent the truth from being exposed. It mirrors the TV-tapping incident during March of 2002 in Changchun City. Jiang gave secret orders to "Kill them without pardon" after the incident and launched an unprecedented brutal large-scale manhunt and arrest of practitioners. They brutally tortured practitioners who participated in the incident (practitioner Liu Chengjun and some others were tortured to death).

However, brutal persecution is not an effective way to cover up the CCP's crimes, since every murder will make people see its evil nature more clearly. Practitioners worldwide will go to the Chinese Embassies and Consulates to protest the killing. They will tell people about Ms. Gao's death. They will call on the people who believe in justice to actively help and support activities that will bring an end to the persecution. We believe that terrorism and violence will not be part of the future.