More Details on How Falun Gong Practitioner Tan Xueli Was Tortured to Death

On July 25th, 2005, Dafa practitioner Tan Xueli was arrested by Wang Kaisheng, the police chief at Qunli Police Station in Pengxi County. Wang led four to five police officers into Mr. Tan's home and sent him to the Hechuan Detention Centre. Tan's wife visited him but could only see him through a glass partition. She found that he could not speak, so she wondered if he had been injured. On June 13th, 2006, Tan Xueli was transferred to Yongchuan Jail. At around 2 p.m. on June 19th, he was tortured to death. Wounds were visible all over his body.

Mr. Tan Xueli, 51 years old, worked on a farm. He lived at the sixth group of the 11th production brigade, Zhenzhonghe community in Qunli Town, Pengxi County, Sichuan Province. He began the practice of Falun Dafa in January 1998. Before practising, he suffered from severe anaemia and frequent headaches. When it was particularly noisy, he sometimes fainted on the spot. If the sunshine was strong, he could not go out.. He could hardly do any work. After practising for several months, all these symptoms went away without treatment.

In May 2000, Tongnan County escalated its persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. The Tongnan detention centre, drug rehabilitation centre and jail imprisoned more than 70 Dafa practitioners. On May 13th, 2000, 60 to 70 people did the Falun Gong exercises together at Binjiang Park in Tongnan. Tan Xueli participated and asked the authorities to release the more than 70 Dafa practitioners.

On that day, the Tongnan National Security Division, led by Zhang Liang, arrested all who practised the Falun Gong exercises in the park. After being detained at Tongnan for several days, Tan Xueli was transferred to the Pengxi Detention Centre in Suining and was persecuted there for more than 40 days. The Tongnan National Security Division forced Tan's wife (also a Dafa practitioner) to hand over 2,000 Yuan¹ before releasing him but gave her a receipt for only 1,200 Yuan. After that point, whenever a politically sensitive date or national holiday came, Qunli town police chief Wang Kaisheng would harass Tan's family or confiscate their property.

On July 25th, 2005, at around 9 a.m., Wang Kaisheng led four to five police officers from the Hechuan National Security Team in Sichuan Province to Tan's home. According to witnesses, there were three police cars at the back of Tan's house. Dozens of police officers surrounded Tan's house.

On July 28th at noon, Wang Kaisheng detained Tan's family with the help of seven to eight people from the National Security Teams from Hechuan and Pengxi in Sichuan Province. They confiscated a desktop PC and thoroughly searched the home. After Tan was arrested, his family had no idea where he was taken.

On January 11th, 2006, the Hechuan Court held an illegal trial but failed to convict him. Afterwards, Mr. Tan remained in custody. On June 5th, 2006, the Hechuan Detention Centre informed Tan's wife that she could visit him. The guards told his wife that Tan was sentenced to prison for four years. Tan was continuously abused by the guards and police of Hechuan County National Security Team and the Hechuan Detention Centre.

Tan's wife could only talk with him through the glass. However, Tan didn't say a word. Tan's wife asked the police what happened. The police replied that Tan was ill and had failed to respond to medical treatment since September 3rd, 2005. He could not talk anymore. In tears, Tan's wife asked him what the police had done to him. Tan opened his mouth and used his thumbs and index fingers of both hands to make a circle. His wife asked him what it meant. Tan put down the phone and stretched out one index finger and used another index finger to cut across the other. Tan's wife still could not understand him. Tan put down the phone again and then drew a circle on the glass and used his finger to draw a line down the middle of the circle. Then he took out four to five teeth that were knocked out. He put them on his hand and showed them to his wife. Tan's wife carefully looked again at his opened mouth. The teeth on the left side were all gone. She suspected that the police might have cut his vocal cord, leaving him unable to talk. Later, Tan wrote a letter to his home. There was only one sentence in it: He could not speak after August 2nd, 2005.

On June 13th, 2006, Tan Xueli was taken to Yongchuan Jail for further persecution. On June 19th, at around 2 a.m., Yongchuan Jail called and said that Tan Xueli had died and asked his family members to be present within 24 hours, otherwise the corpse would be processed. Tan's wife burst into tears when she heard this news. Their daughter worked out of town and their son was in college. She had no idea what to do.

In the morning, she asked several relatives to rush over to Yongchuan Jail. The relatives asked how such a robust person ended up dead in just a few days. The police replied that Tan had died from an illness. They said that Tan fell into a coma on June 19th. He was dead on arrival to the Second Chongqing Hospital. The family member asked if there had been a physical exam before admission. The doctor of the jail replied that section chief Li took the exam and didn't find anything wrong with him.

Nobody was told how or when Tan died. There was no exam record or proof of admission from the hospital. Tan's wife asked to see the corpse. The police replied that the corpse had already been sent to the Yongchuan Crematory. They also stated that it would be fine to see the corpse in person but no photos could be taken. Only the wife and children were allowed to see him, no other relatives. When the other relatives protested, they agreed to allow several more relatives to see the corpse. In order to be able to see the corpse, Tan's relatives agreed not to take any pictures.

The corpse had already been frozen when they saw it. Tan only had a red vest on. When his relative pulled off the vest, the entire chest and legs were black and blue. When the body was turned over, the back of the body was also black and blue. When turned over again, Tan's nose and mouth effused some blood. Seeing bruises all over his body, Tan's wife said that he had not died of illness. She wanted to consult a lawyer. The police said that it was fine to consult a lawyer but only they could do it for her. They did not allow Tan's wife to invite the lawyer. Tan's wife asked the authorities to wait until their son and daughter came back home. The police said they would only give three days starting from the 19th. After three days, even if the children had not returned, they would go ahead and cremate Tan's body.

Under strong pressure from the police, on June 20th at around 5 p.m., Tan's corpse was cremated.

Tan's wife is in a state of despair. Their daughter lost consciousness twice in one day after hearing of her father's death. Their son is still a junior in the college. His tuition costs more than 10,000 Yuan a year.

Hechuan Detention Centre: 86-23-42882313

Hechuan City 610 Office: Chen Xiaoping, Chen Dexing

Hechuan Police Department, Hechuan Detention Centre, zip code: 401520

Yongchuan Jail No. 6 Ward: 86-23-49800572

Qunli Township Police Station: 86-825-5489004

Qunli Township Police Station Chief, Wang Kaisheng 86-13982528088 (Mobile)

Pengxi County Police Department: 86-825-5439550

Yang Yongqi, 86-13909062606 (Mobile), deputy head of the police department

Detention Centre head, 86-825-5433589, 5480080, 5480080, 5489001 (Office)

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/2006/7/7/132413.html