The Deaths of 20 Falun Gong Practitioners Confirmed in June 2007 (Photo)

The deaths of an additional 20 Falun Gong practitioners as the result of persecution have been confirmed in June 2007. Fourteen practitioners died between January 2007 and June 2007; six died in June 2007. Fourteen were women, accounting for 70 per cent of the overall death toll. Eight were older than 50. Liu Liang from Jiaozhou City, Shandong Province was 24, the youngest victim.

Since the Chinese Communist regime and Jiang Zemin's group launched the persecution targeting Falun Gong on July 20th, 1999, the deaths of at least 3,062 Falun Gong practitioners in China have been verified. Many more cases--including practitioners whose organs were harvested while alive--remain covered up due to the Communist regime's information blockade.

Falun Gong practitioners are persecuted and forced into exile; they are fired from their jobs or expelled from schools; their families are destroyed; they endure numerous forms of torture including psychiatric abuse, sexual assault, and brainwashing; and some are killed through live organ removal--all because they remain steadfast in their belief in Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance and insist on their right to be good people. They are guarding the interests of all humankind as they struggle to uphold the right to be good people.

The 20 deaths exposed in June took place in ten provinces and cities. Four were in Hebei Province, four in Shandong Province, three in Jilin Province, and three in Beijing. One incident happened in each of the following provinces: Liaoning, Hunan, Hubei, Guangdong, and Shanxi.

Many practitioners were killed during the most recent round of Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-ordered persecution. According to media reports, Security Deputy Minister Liu Jing has been told to eradicate Falun Gong before the 2008 Beijing Olympics Games. He has issued orders to police departments throughout the country, demanding concerted efforts to achieve this goal. Security Minister Zhou Yongkang issued an order to launch another round of escalated persecution followed by large-scale arrests of Falun Gong practitioners.

24-year-old Liu Liang from Jiaozhou City, Shandong Province, run down

Mr. Liu Liang, 24, lived in Daheliu Village, Zhangying Township, Jiaozhou City, Shandong Province. Jiaozhou City 610 Office¹ agents arrested him at the end of September 2006 and held him at Jiaozhou City Detention Centre for two weeks.

Officials at the Qingdao 610 Office ordered the Jiaozhou City police and judicial system to collect evidence in Liu Liang's case in order to further persecute him.

Six plainclothes police officers broke into Mr. Liu's home on June 5th, 2007. They ransacked it without ever identifying themselves. The police videotaped the rooms and Liu Liang's family-owned factory. They told his family, "This tape is for the Procuratorate; you cannot see it!" Liu Liang was not home during the ransacking. The officers could not find anything.

It has been revealed that police intercepted Liu Liang on his way home from a friend's residence at 8 p.m. on June 5th. The police chased Liu Liang, who was on a motorcycle, and ran him into the opening of a large well before hastily taking off. The well is eight metres [26.4 ft] in diameter and flush with the ground, therefore difficult to see in the dark.

A villager found Liu Liang's body and his motorcycle in the well at noon on June 7th and called the police. Three police cars arrived. Armed police, the head of the 610 Office, and Jiaozhou City Police Department deputy head Wang Yong jumped out. Many villagers stood around to watch. The police and the 610 Office agents asked Liu Liang's family if they had any requests.

Liu Liang's father demanded a criminal investigation. He also said it was illegal for the police and the 610 Office agents to videotape and ransack his home and demanded to see the tape.

The following day, Jiaozhou City 610 Office head Wang Ronghai and Jiaozhou City Police Department head Wang Yong went to Liu Liang's home and told his family, "The police are not in the least responsible for Liu Liang's death. You are free to file a lawsuit wherever you wish."

In an attempt to cast a bad light on Falun Gong and evade legal consequences, the police and the 610 Office agents claimed Liu Liang had committed suicide by driving into the well. They pressured Liu Liang's family to strike a secret deal with them, saying it would benefit the family.

Liu Liang was an only child, and his parents are devastated.

Liu Liang started practising Falun Gong in January 1997 at the age of 15. He was a good student and well liked by his teachers and classmates. When the Communist Party and Jiang Zemin launched the persecution of Falun Gong on July 20th, 1999, and churned out endless lies via television, newspaper and radio stations, Liu Liang said, "I cannot remain silent any longer. This injustice must be stopped!"

Liu Liang went to Beijing in late July 1999. He was arrested several times, and the police extorted money from his family. He went to Beijing for the third time in July 2000 and was taken to Changping Detention Centre in Beijing. The guards slapped his face and burned three scars on his wrists with cigarette butts. After three days of detention the local police took Liu Liang back to Jiaozhou City and handcuffed him to a tree for an entire afternoon, followed by 15 days of detention at the city custody centre. He was 18.

Wang Minli from Jilin City died after having her leg broken and eyes blinded from torture

Wang Minli

Wang Minli, 43, was the former secretary of the Communist Youth League at the Jilin City Fur Factory. She had been practising Falun Gong since 1996. Ms. Wang began speaking out for justice for Falun Gong in July 1999, was persecuted many times, and went into exile. A United Nations Special Rapporteur called for her rescue on May 21st, 2003.

Wang Minli was arrested again at 1 p.m. on March 15th, 2007, by a group of officers from the National Security Division at Changyi District Police Department led by Du Xingze. They detained her at the Yueshan Road Police Dog Training Base in Jilin City where National Security agents savagely beat and tortured her. They poured mustard oil in her eyes, causing blindness in one eye. They also broke one of her legs by beating her with wooden sticks.

Her family went to the National Security Division following her arrest to enquire about her condition. The officials said they would not sentence her nor would they release her until after the 2008 Olympic Games.

Wang Minli passed away at 2:00 p.m. on June 19th, 2007, on the way to a hospital. She was 43 years old.

Fu Guiju from Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province, died from brutal force-feeding

Ms. Fu Guiju is from Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province. She was arrested and detained many times for remaining steadfast in her belief in Falun Dafa. Party officials ordered her neighbours to keep her under surveillance. Criminal Police Division head Wu Jianguo at the Qiaoxi Police Department and other officers arrested Fu Guiju's daughter. They went through her backpack and found her house key. The police, accompanied by Meng Yanping and Tang Liping from the South Mingde Party Office, proceeded to ransack Fu Guiju's home.

Zhong Senlin and others from the Qiaoxi National Security Division and many officers from the Xinhua Street Police Precinct and from the South Mingde Street Police Precinct arrested 12 Falun Gong practitioners on the evening of May 12th, 2007. Most of the practitioners were elderly.

Fu Guiju went on a persecution protest hunger strike and was released when her life was in danger.

Officers from Qiaoxi Police Department and South Mingde Police Department arrested Fu Guiju and Qin Yueling from their homes on June 4th, 2007, before the practitioners had a chance to recover. The practitioners were sent to the Shisanli Detention Centre. Qin Yueling's computer and other personal belongings were confiscated.

The Qiaoxi Procuratorate in Zhangjiakou City issued "arrest" warrants for several practitioners who were already in custody, including Fu Guiju, Qin Yueling, and Cheng Xiue.

Fu Guiju died at Shisanli Detention Centre on June 18th, 2007, during a brutal force-feeding session.

Ms. Wang Yaqing from Miyun County, Beijing, died after being injected with unknown drugs

Ms. Wang Yaqing was a 46-year-old hairdresser who lived in Jizhuang Village, Miyun Town, Miyun County, Beijing. She started to practise Falun Gong in the Spring of 1999 and was kindhearted and honest. She was so skillful that people often waited in line for her services. She was given unknown drugs during two months of detention, which caused the deterioration of her eyesight and memory, retardation, asthma, and oedema [swelling] throughout her body. She was no longer able to care for herself.

After the Communist regime started to persecute Falun Gong on July 20th, 1999, Ms. Wang was detained and put under house surveillance several times. At about 1:20 p.m. on August 15th, 2006, seven or eight policemen from the Binhe Police Station and from the National Security Team in Miyun County went to her hair salon. They took Ms. Wang, even though she was doing a customer's hair, put her into a police car, and drove away.

Not until October 20th, 2006 did Ms. Wang's family receive a letter from the Forced Labour and Education (Brainwashing) Dispatch Section in Beijing, stating that she had been sentenced to two years in a forced labour camp. The day after the family received the letter, officials from the Dispatch Section went and asked Ms. Wang's husband if he wanted her to return home. He said, "Yes." They said that she was sick and they could release her on bail for medical treatment.

Five or six days later, Wang Yaqing was released and sent home, but she was in very poor health, and her health deteriorated daily. She lost her eyesight and could barely see the person just in front of her. She had lost her memory as well. She appeared [mentally] slow and suffered from asthma and oedema. She couldn't look after herself.

Wang Yaqing passed away on May 27th, 2007, after enduring seven months of excruciating pain.

According to what Wang Yaqing said before her death, she was first held in a detention centre and later in the Dispatch Section for one night. Then she was sent to the hospital within the forced labour camp. The doctor drew one syringe of fluid from her lower back and injected some unknown drugs. She felt dizzy and drowsy after the injection. The guards agreed to let her lie down for a while. She closed her eyes and lay on a bed. She overheard the guards saying, "Watch her, but let her do what she wants."

Soon after Wang Yaqing died, a woman claiming to be from the Red Cross called and asked about her situation. Her husband told the caller that Ms. Wang had just passed away. The woman hung up immediately. Her husband said that they never knew anyone from the Red Cross, nor did they have any relatives with this organisation.

After Ms. Wang died, officials from the Dispatch Section went to her home and took her Death Certificate. They gave her husband 70 yuan² for the certificate and left quickly.

People knew that Ms. Wang was in good health before being arrested and commented that Party officials must have poisoned her.

The family has to pay tuition for one child at university and another one in high school, and they have elderly parents and parents-in-law to look after. Since Ms. Wang died, the family has been living in poverty.

The CCP and Jiang's persecution of Falun Gong has lasted eight years. During these past eight years, abuse and murder have become commonplace. This is a crime against humanity and the corruption of morality.

Right now, the Communist regime, in the name of the Olympic Games that represent world peace and respect for human rights, is intensively carrying out its evil persecution. The Communist regime is comprehensively challenging people's morality and the conscience of the whole world. Facing this challenge, anyone with any ability to reason who keeps silent, pretends ignorance, or even helps the tyrants to do evil, is positioning his or her conscience on the scale of good and evil.

Note

1. "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.

2. "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.ca/mh/articles/2007/7/5/158218.html