Further Details About Mr. Xu Jishan's Being Tortured to Death in Daqing City Prison

Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Xu Jishan, 41, was an employee at the Daqing Petrochemical Engineering Corporation. He was sentenced to three years of imprisonment in March 2004. He was incarcerated in Daqing Prison because he handed out Falun Gong materials.

Xu Jishan was often tortured in Daqing Prison. Criminals Wang Anhui and Guo Liyang beat him frequently. Criminal Yang Baoxiang took care of Xu's deposit card for the money that Xu's family gave him. Xu didn't have the freedom to go to the prison canteen to buy necessary items. Yang Baoxiang didn't let Xu know how much money was deposited and spent in his money account.

Beginning May 5th, 2005, the prison guards forced Mr. Xu to stand up straight for seven days without a break. They poured cold water onto Mr. Xu and soaked his coat. They also tried to subject him to the "tying the rope¹" torture. Mr. Xu shouted, "Help!" which woke everyone up, and then the abusers stopped.

On June 5th, 2005, guard Zhang Dezhi and other criminals forced Mr. Xu to write a "guarantee letter" renouncing Falun Gong.

At 8:00 a.m. that day, criminal Pu Chong told Mr. Xu, "Would you do me a favour to write the letter? If you do it, you will avoid the torture, too." Mr. Xu said, "I can do anything but this." Pu Chong said, "OK, then. [I hope you] won't regret it later."

At 8:40 a.m., Zhang Dezhi came to Mr. Xu's room with seven criminals. To keep the proceedings secret, they removed practitioner Zhao Yu'an, who was in the same room with Mr. Xu. They locked Zhao Yu'an in another room and assigned criminals to watch Zhao Yu'an. They forbade anyone from entering Xu's room or walking nearby, so that no one would know of their crime of torturing Xu.

At 9:00 a.m., criminal Wang Minlong found a piece of rope, and Mr. Xu was tied onto a wooden frame and gagged with a pair of underwear to prevent him from shouting out. Criminals Wang Anhui and Guo Liyang carried Mr. Xu to a nearby toilet. It contained a water hose, which was used to torture Mr. Xu.

Criminals Li Liancai, Wang Anhui, and Guo Liyang took off Mr. Xu's clothes. Then they sprayed Mr. Xu with cold water from the hose from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. The water temperature was about 60o F.

At 8:40 p.m., 10:00 p.m., and midnight, Zhang Dezhi came to the toilet and tried to force Mr. Xu to write the "guarantee letter." Every time they removed the underwear from Mr. Xu's mouth, Mr. Xu shouted, "Help." Zhang Dezhi threatened him, "Nobody can rescue you if you don't write the letter. So why don't you do it?" Mr. Xu didn't say anything.

At around 1:00 a.m., Wang Anhui and Guo Liyang found that Mr. Xu was dying, which they reported to Zhang Dezhi, but Zhang Dezhi didn't take any action. He went to see Mr. Xu, and left. Li Liancai, Pu Chong, Wang Anhui and Guo Liyang carried Mr. Xu out of the toilet and ordered criminal Yang Qinghua to clean the toilet.

Mr. Xu was naked when he was carried out. He laid on the ground and could not move. Guo Liyang and Wang Anhui tried to make him sit up, but he could not. He could not even hold his head up. Despite this, Guo Liyang and Wang Anhui were still saying that Mr. Xu was pretending. Li Liancai and Pu Chong tested Mr. Xu's pulse and tried to push his chest to help him breathe, but it didn't work.

Although Zhang Dezhi saw everything, he didn't send Mr. Xu to a hospital until 1:40 p.m.

Falun Gong practitioner Li Lizhuang, who was released on July 23rd, 2006 helped the emergency treatment in the prison hospital. Mr. Xu had no life signs after being sent to the hospital. At 2:00 p.m. he was sent back to the prison cell. They put clothes on him. People at the prison cell didn't know until 4:00 p.m. that Mr. Xu had already died.

Many people witnessed the whole process of torturing Mr. Xu through the door. Criminal Ying Youzeng peeked through the door and said, "These people are killing a Falun Gong practitioner. He is dying!" When they were torturing Mr. Xu, other criminals were locked in a room opposite the bathroom. The door of that room can be opened a little bit so many people peeked through the gap and witnessed the whole process.

The witnesses include:

(All the following are in the Sixth Prison Ward)

Zhao Yu'an (Falun Gong practitioner), Chi Wenda (already released), Zhang Fengwen, Li Ming

(All the following are in the Seventh Prison Ward)

Wang Minglong, Wang Hongyan, Zhou Xiaofei, Yao Hainiu, Wu Qingquan (already released), Yang Qinghua, Ying Youzeng, Jiang Wenming, Zhang Wenping, Song Yulong, Li Hongbiao, Li Jin, Zhai Fugang, Wang Guangyue, Zhang Yonggang at the service centre, and Li Lizhuang (Falun Gong practitioner, released, he lives at the Second Hospital of the Medicine University in Harbin City)

In August 2005, Daqing Prison officials tried to cover up the truth of Mr. Xu's death. They threatened the witnesses and lied, saying that Mr. Xu died due to heart disease. Guards Zhang Dezhi, Li Fengjiang and criminal Guan Falin were personally involved in creating this ruse. They threatened witnesses Wu Qingquan, Zhang Wenping, Jiang Wenming and Song Yulong with consequences if they said anything.

The procuratorate and the prison's criminal investigation section also threatened witnesses when they were "investigating" the case. They claimed that Wu Qingquan's given testimony was false. They incarcerated him in a solitary cell for one month, and subjected him to other punishment. They refused to record Zhao Yu'an's testimony. Confronted with such huge pressure, no witness dared to come forward to tell the truth.

The murderers are still out of reach of the law. The coerced witnesses don't dare to tell the truth. Some witnesses were sent to other places, and some of them were released, but we believe that the truth will one day be exposed.

The murderers involved in Xu's case:

Guard, Zhang Dezhi

Criminals: Guo Liyang, Li Liancai, Pu Chong, and Wang Anhui (all in the prison's Seventh Ward)

Note

1. "Tying the rope" is one type of cruel torture, refers to putting a thin nylon rope around a person's neck, and then wrapping it around both shoulders from the back down to each arm, loop by loop, and then over each hand. The rope is tightened to its limit and cuts into the flesh. Both arms are forced behind the back and raised to the extreme, and then both thumbs are tied with a rope and affixed to the rope that goes around the back of the neck. The person tortured in this way is then kicked, to kneel on the floor. The rope is released about one hour later, then the person is tied up like this again a second time, then a third time.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2006/8/12/135157.html