Prison Authorities Force Yuan Qingjiang's Body to Be Cremated Out of Fear of Public Exposure

It has been confirmed that Dafa practitioner Yuan Qingjiang, who was tortured and killed at the Daqing Prison, had already passed away on July 23rd when he was sent to the hospital for emergency treatment. When Yuan Qingjiang was tortured to the brink of death by the prison policemen, the Daqing Prison authorities refused to allow him to be sent for medical treatment. Moreover, they intentionally delayed the process of him receiving emergency treatment. After Yuan Qingjiang was persecuted to death, the prison staff purposely sent his corpse to the hospital for an "emergency rescue treatment," but what really happened was revealed by the doctor. Family members of Yuan Qingjiang were not able to see Yuan's body. Afraid of having their crimes exposed, the Daqing Prison staff forced his family members to sign their names for the cremation, threatening that if they refused, they would be charged with hindrance of public duties, and even be extorted several tens of thousands of yuan (1) for medical expenses.

In the past three months, Daqing Prison authorities have persecuted three Dafa practitioners to death: Wang Hongde, Xu Jishan and Yuan Qingjiang. According to reports, Xu Jishan's family members have brought charges against Daqing Prison through the Daqing Procuratorate. To date, the bodies of Xu Jishan and Yuan Qingjiang have not been cremated yet.

Mr. Yuan Qingjiang, 41 years old, lived in Harbin City. He began practising Falun Dafa in June 1997. Since the persecution of Dafa began, Yuan Qingjiang suffered ongoing brutal persecution at the Harbin City Changlinzi Labour Camp. He was arrested again on March 7th 2003 during the time of the "Two Conferences" of the Chinese legislature. Before this, Yuan Qingjiang applied to go abroad but did not succeed, and this time, the charges for his illegal imprisonment was "betraying the country and fleeing overseas."

During his imprisonment in the Harbin Prison, Yuan Qingjiang was brutally beaten by prison policeman Zhang Jiushan and inmates. He suffered pleural effusion (water collecting in his lungs), became lethargic, and could not move his limbs. During this period, his family members were not allowed to visit him. In July 2004, the Harbin Prison staff beat a Dafa practitioner to death in the open, and afraid of having their crimes exposed, transferred Yuan Qingjiang and 30 other practitioners to the Daqing Hongweixing Prison to further persecute them. As of May 1st 2005, Yuan's family did not know of his whereabouts.

Daqing Prison staff phoned Yuan Qingjiang's wife, Dong Liping, around May 1st 2005, saying that Yuan Qingjiang had contracted an infectious disease. They tried to extort tens of thousands of yuan worth of medical expenses from her without describing the seriousness of the disease or how long he was infected. Dong Liping has no source of income and told the prison that she had no money. She also demanded an explanation from the prison staff, saying that Dong Qingjiang had always had a healthy body, so why had he contracted an infectious disease at the prison. The prison policeman's lies were exposed, as he could not answer the question and the incident ended there.

On June 12th 2005, Daqing Prison Team Leader Jiang Shuchen phoned Dong Liping and said, "Your husband is very ill, so you can come and take him for medical treatment." On June 29th Dong Liping went to complete the application procedures, but Sixth Prison District Leader Dong went back on his word and rejected her application, saying that it could not be done. He also said that it takes at least 20 days to process the application, but no one knows what they did to Yuan Qingjiang during those 20 days.

Throughout this period of time, Dong Liping pursued the issue of trying to get Yuan released from prison for medical treatment, but Jiang only made up excuse after excuse, saying that it requires going through a lot of red tape. This went on until July 21st. However, on July 22nd the prison staff only spent around an hour before the application was processed and approved, but no one sent it to Dong Liping or notified Yuan's family members.

On July 24th Dong Liping telephoned to pursue this matter again, but the prison medical staff said that Yuan Qingjiang had already passed away at 8:30 a.m. on July 23rd. Dong Liping asked why Yuan had not received emergency treatment, but the prison staff replied that Yuan was sent to the Daqing Fourth Hospital for emergency treatment at 10:30 a.m. on July 22nd but he was denied admittance to the hospital by the doctor because he had an infectious disease. At 12:30 p.m. he was sent back to the prison cell. By then, Yuan was already in a coma and could not even control his bladder. On July 23rd he was sent to the Daqing Infectious Disease Second Hospital

The chief doctor of the Second Hospital Jiang Jinwen told Yuan Qingjiang's sister that Yuan Qingjiang was dead well before his arrival and that he did not treat Yuan at all. The hospitalisation forms and treatment procedures were filled out later on July 25th. However, when Yuan Qingjiang's sister visited doctor Jiang to look at Yuan's medical history file later, Jiang replied, "The earthquake in Daqing shook me up terribly, and I can't remember anything anymore." What kind of pressure silenced Jiang Jinwen?

Yuan Qingjiang's wife and sister went to look for the Prison Chief Jiang Shuchen to retrieve Yuan Qingjiang's belongings, but Jiang said all of them had been burned. Yuan Qingjiang's family members have still not seen Yuan's body. The Daqing Prison staff is forcing Yuan's family members to sign their names for Yuan's cremation, but Yuan's wife will not agree to it. The Daqing Prison staff is threatening to charge Dong Liping with hindering public duties by not agreeing to cremation. At the same time, they are also trying to extort tens of thousands of yuan for medical expenses from Yuan's family members.

The Daqing Prison staff has brutally persecuted four Dafa practitioners to death.: Yu Yongquan (persecuted to death on March 8th 2003), Wang Hongde (May 14th 2005), Xu Jishan (June 7th 2005), and Yuan Qingjiang (July 22nd or 23nd 2005). We are appealing to people around the world to regard this issue with importance, stop this bloody persecution, bring the criminals to justice, and help secure the release of all illegally imprisoned Dafa practitioners.

Daqing Prison Mailbox Address: Daqing Prison, Hongweixing Street, Ranghulu District, Daqing City

Postal Code: 163159

Former Prison Chief and current Daqing City Political and Judicial Committee Deputy Secretary Tang Yongfu: 86-459-5056688 86-459-5105087 86-13303690588(Mobile)

Present Prison Chief: Wang Yongxiang: 86-459-5964388 86-13904867068(Mobile)

Note:

(1) "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2005/8/4/107655.html