Facts about the Persecution and Death of Practitioner Mr. Li Zetao from Chongqing City in 2001

Mr. Li Zetao was about 24 years old. He came from Qilong Village, Shimo Town, Jiangjin City, Chongqing City. He was an employee of the Zongsheng Motorcycle Parts Factory of Chongqing City. Because he was reported for speaking to people about the facts of Falun Dafa, he was arrested at home by the Jiulongpo District Police in Chongqing City at the end of June 2000. At the time, Li Zetao was only wearing underwear. The money in his house, his clothes, and notebook were all confiscated. During his detention, his family members were forbidden to visit him. On April 11th, 2001, his family suddenly received a notification from the Shimo Police Station saying that Mr. Li was life-threateningly ill and immediately needed his family to visit. Only when his family members arrived at Chongqing City did they learn that he was detained in Xishanping Forced Labour Camp.

In April 2001, Mr. Li and five other practitioners were transferred from the "Education Ward" to the "Agricultural Squadron" in Xishanping Forced Labour Camp. To commemorate the second anniversary of the peaceful appeal of April 25th 1999, the practitioners in the camp shouted, "Falun Dafa is righteous! Oppose the persecution!" Guard Huang Fangfu whipped several practitioners on their heads and cheeks with a police baton. Li Zetao and Zhou Jian were handcuffed to a window for over 10 hours.

On April 27th, 2001, Li Zetao was severely beaten for moving too slowly at breakfast. When practitioners Zhou Jian and Wang Zhande tried to stop the guards, guard Huang Fangfu handcuffed the three practitioners to a metal window again for two days and nights. They savagely beat practitioners on their heads and faces. They brutally whipped Wang Zhande on his head, which resulted in his left eye discharging blood and pus for over a week.

Since the end of May, the head of the Agricultural Squadron (later the head of the 8th Ward) directed the violent brainwashing of practitioners with a predetermined plan and goal. Because Li Zetao publicly resisted the overtime hard labour, requested the right to write a letter to sue because of the persecution, and demanded the right to practise the Falun Gong exercises, he was considered a real thorn in their side. Guard Du Jun claimed: "(I) wanted to beat him to death a long time ago." Guards Du Jun, Zhang Anmin, and Hu Yuyin and others instructed inmates to torture practitioners using any means they chose and promising them that if they could force a practitioner write a Repentance Statement¹, their jail term would be reduced by one month.

Since May 29th, Li Zetao was forced to fetch manure during the daytime in the Agricultural Squadron. They made him take the heaviest loads. He was not allowed to rest at noon or at night, and he was tortured physically and spiritually. They made him wear a tall paper hat. His arms were tied to wooden sticks and a bucket of urine was hung on each arm. A broom was placed underneath his clothes. He was beaten with fists, kicked with boots, and ridiculed. They wrote words slandering Falun Dafa on his abdomen and tried to force him to shout slogans cursing Falun Dafa. They also tried to make him smoke and write the Three Statements². Another brutal act was was when a wicked inmate, Huang Zhongzhi, poked a fruit knife into Li Zetao's anus and incessantly turned the knife. Li Zetao cried out due to the pain. He reported the torture to the cadres of the Party, who paid no attention to it.

On May 30th, Li Zetao was beaten again with hoes and wooden levers that were used to carry manure by the inmates under the instructions of guard Gao Ding.

Mr. Li went on a hunger strike to protest the torture but was still forced to do hard labour. On the afternoon of May 31st when Director Long of Xishanping Labour Camp and Tian, the head of the Management and Education Division, went to the agricultural squadron to make an inspection, inmates were beating Li Zetao. Mr. Li ran out of the room to report the torture, but the officers paid no heed. Moreover, Tian even answered, "You deserve it! You deserve it!"

On the morning of June 2nd, the prisoners were forced to carry wooden boxes on their shoulders. All of the other inmates carried two boxes but the guards forced Li Zetao carry three boxes each time. Mr. Li Zetao died that day. The policemen cremated him the next day. It is not clear exactly what form of torture led to his death.

Before the authorities inspected his body, they didn't notify his family or friends. Only after cremation did they notify his parents in a remote village in Jiangjin to claim the box of ashes. The guards covered up the truth of his death and said that Mr. Li fell off a building while at work and died. Mr. Li's parents arrived barefoot, tears covering their cheeks. They were doubtful but had no choice but to claim their son's ashes.

Related article:

http://www.clearharmony.net/articles/200111/1648.html

Note

1. 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.

2. "Three Statements": Practitioners are coerced under brainwashing and torture to write "Repentance Statement," "Guarantee Statement" or 'Dissociation Statement" as proof that they have given up their belief. In the 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://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2006/11/18/142685.html