Mr. Wang Guiming Died on February 29th in Chaoyanggou Forced Labour Camp, Jilin Province

Falun Dafa practitioner Mr. Wang Guiming, 40, lived in Tonghua City, Jilin Province. He was arrested in 2002 by Domestic Security agents of the Dongchang District Police Department and sentenced to five years in prison. He served in his term in Jilin Province Prison and Siping City Prison. In the Jilin prison, Mr. Wang was once brutally beaten for eight days straight, until he was almost unrecognisable and in critical condition. On February 23rd, 2004, he was transferred to Siping City Prison and detained in the Eleventh Ward. Mr. Wang was locked in a small cell¹ and guards shocked him with four electric batons, severely injuring his face . Mr. Wang went on a hunger strike to protest, and the guards force-fed him nearly for a month in the prison hospital.

On the afternoon of February 13th, 2008, while Mr. Wang was selling baked sweet potatoes at the Hongyuan Market, he was distributing leaflets exposing the persecution and telling people the facts about Falun Dafa. He was reported. At 2 p.m., policeman Zhang Xiaoxu from the Xinzhan Station arrested Mr. Wang and took him into custody. Officers interrogated Mr. Wang in the station for seven hours, stripped off his shoes, and took off his belt. Several officers ransacked his home at 4 p.m. At around 9:20 p.m., the police took him to the Dongchang District Police Department, completed his paper work, then detained him in the Changliu Detention Centre. On February 17th, 2008, he was taken to Chaoyanggou Forced Labour Camp and detained in the Xinsheng (Brainwashing) Ward. According to sources, Mr. Wang went on a hunger strike to protest, and as a result he was force-fed and shocked with electric batons. He died on February 29th, 2008.

As soon as Mr. Wang died, Chaoyanggou Labour Camp officials sealed off most outgoing information and emptied the Xinsheng Ward. Some family visitors started to talk about it from the other side of the windows. Many sensed that something had happened. The camp administration did not notify his family directly. Instead, they told local police to pass on a message to bring Mr. Wang some clothes. His family did not go that same day. The next day, Mr. Wang's older sister received a phone call, telling her that Mr. Wang had died and asking his family to come to the camp.

Mr. Wang's family reached the camp on March 2nd, 2008. The camp officials explained that Mr. Wang had committed suicide by ramming his head against the heater and that he had died on the way to the hospital. His family talked about this with Deputy Warden Li (male, given name unknown), and he said that Mr. Wang came to the ward as healthy man, and there was no reason for him to commit suicide. He admitted that Mr. Wang was on a hunger strike the entire time and had been force-fed three times. He emphasised that Mr. Wang did not resist the force-feeding and absolutely did not die due to force-feeding.

On March 3rd, 2008, the camp administrators allowed Mr. Wang's family to see his body but emphasised that they would not be allowed to take photos and assigned a guard to accompany the family. His family found a dry cut on his head, but no blood. They also found purple bruises on his body. They raised questions as to why his wounds did not look like they were made by ramming into a heater. His family wanted to take his body home and were even willing to pay the cost of 1800 yuan² to the hospital. The camp administrators refused and did not allow the family to visit with the guards who had witnessed his death.

His family felt they had no choice but to try to file a lawsuit with the Chengjiao District Court in Changchun City. They tried to do this for two days but in vain. Mr. Wang's wife and teenage daughter are both deeply hurt.

Xinzhan Police Station: 86-435-3616892
Policeman Zhang Xiaoxu: 86-13944596115 (Mobile), 86-435-3909516 (Home)
Dongchang District Domestic Security Division Leader Jin Guiquan (male): 86-435-3258809 (Office)
Tonghua City 610 Office: 86-435-3231120, Chair Jiang Haidong (male): 86-13704355110 (Mobile),

Note

1. Small cell - The detainee is individually locked up in a very small cell. The guards handcuff practitioners behind their backs in a fixed position, in which the practitioners can neither move nor lie down. The small cell is very damp and no sunshine comes in. Detainees have to use a bucket in the cell as a toilet. Only half of a regular meal is served during the daytime. During the night rats run around. The stench in the small cell is so bad that it is difficult to breathe.

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/2008/3/9/173946.html