Dafa Practitioner Xu Jishan Persecuted to Death in Daqing Prison

On June 7, 2005, Dafa practitioner Mr. Xu Jishan was tortured to death in the Daqing Prison in Heilongjiang Province. Mr. Xu was detained in the seventh section of Daqing prison because of his belief in Falun Dafa. He protested the persecution. On June 7, 2005, the group head Li Fengjiang and the director Zhang Dezhi ordered a number of prisoners to strip off Mr. Xu's clothes, tie him to a bed, and spray him with cold water from a highly pressurized water pipe. They sprayed so much water that he had trouble breathing, as the water was forcefully directed all over his face and body. An hour later, Mr. Xu's lungs were filled with water. By the time he was sent to the hospital, he was already dead.

Xu Jishan	Xu Jishan and his son

Beginning on May 1, 2005, Mr. Xu's personal cangues (1), led by Li Liancai, who was head of the prisoners and director of the local residential commission, persecuted him and other Falun Gong practitioners with extreme violence. Tang Guofu, the secretary of the Communist Commission of the Daqing Prison and Jiang Shuchen, the deputy head of the prison, and Guo Chuntang also gave specific orders to torture practitioners.

On May 11, 2005, the Communist Commission of the Daqing Prison held a meeting, during which they decided to intensify the torture of Dafa practitioners. In the meeting those present were told, "Any death resulting from a hunger strike will be treated as a natural death." In the meantime, in a nearby hospital, they prepared more than ten plastic tubes to force feed Dafa practitioners who went on hunger strikes. They decided that this time they would force-feed practitioners with salty water and corn powder, rather than milk powder as before. The next day, prison head Jiang Shuchen and Guo Chuntang, the 610 Office (2) director, along with the head of the Educational Reformation Branch and a number of other persons tried to force Dafa practitioners to wear prison uniforms. Many Dafa practitioners refused to do so, so they were stripped of their clothes and bound with ropes. Many Dafa practitioners went on hunger strikes in protest, for which they were sent one by one to the hospital for force-feeding.

The authorities tried to force Mr. Xu to write a repentance statement (3) by forcing him to stand continually for seven days without any sleep. One day, when Mr. Xu was so tired that he could no longer hold himself upright, his personal cangues tied him to the ladder of a bunk bed. Several days later, at midnight, many people were awakened by Mr. Xu's screaming for help. He was sprayed with water, which completely soaked him to the bone, freezing him from head to toe. Chen Zhongyu frequently abused him. At any time he would torture Mr. Xu.

On June 7, Xu Jishan ate a piece of bread and drank a big bowl of gruel for his breakfast. He was in good physical condition. He emptied and cleaned the spittoon and helped clean the study room. At about 9 o'clock, Li Liancai ordered a prisoner on duty to take out two bed boards, which he claimed would be used for brainwashing Mr. Xu. They then fastened the boards into a cross and bound Mr. Xu to them after stripping off his clothes. They said, "We have given you many chances to renounce your belief, but you have rejected them. Now we will no longer give you any more chances."

The persons who took part in the torture included all cangues and the head of the cleaning group, Pu Song. Chen Zhongyu, who had recently transferred to the section for sick prisoners, also came back to take part in the torture. After they fastened Mr. Xu to the cross, they moved him to a toilet. They closed the window, taped Xu's mouth and sprayed cold water on him. At about noon, police director Zhang Dezhi entered the toilet to direct the torture himself. At about 1 o'clock in the afternoon, Mr. Xu was removed from the toilet and sent to a hospital emergency room. When they dressed him again, a few of his torturers said that he was just pretending to be unconscious. The fact is that at that time Mr. Xu was not breathing nor was his heart beating. Group head Li Fengjiang and police director Zhang Dezhi were directly responsible for his death.

After Mr. Xu died, on the night of June 10, the policeman Wang Yingjie collected all those involved in the case for a meeting, where they decided that they would all have the same story about Mr. Xu's death. On June 11, officials from the Procuratorate of Daqing City came to the prison for an investigation into Mr. Xu's death. At the time, Mr. Xu's cangues - Li Liancai, Guo Liyang and Wang Anhui, had already been detained in confinement cells for interrogation. The Daqing prison wanted them to confess to everything, so that they could place the responsibility for Mr. Xu's death on their shoulders. They ordered them to speak along the same lines that they had decided beforehand. Both the Daqing Prison and the Seventh Prison Section told the Procuratorate and Mr. Xu's family members that Mr. Xu had died from a heart attack. For the time being the true facts about the case are under tight control and closely guarded in the Daqing Prison and the Seventh Prison Section. All people who witnessed the case are also under strict control.

We hereby call for help from all people concerned about justice to appeal Mr. Xu's case by all means to the authorities of Daqing City, Heilongjiang Province and international organizations so that the case can be thoroughly investigated and the criminals from the Daqing Prison will be brought to justice.

Note:

(1) Cangue - the name of an instrument of torture is now used to indicate the person who is designated to personally supervise the behavior of practitioners.

(2) "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.

(3) Repentance Statement: In this statement the practitioner is forced to admit remorse for practising Falun Gong, promise to give up Falun Gong, and never again associate with other practitioners or go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2005/6/18/104323.html