Mr. Qi Tingsong's Family Receives Compensation for His Death Due to Torture after Persistent Appeals

Mr. Qi Tingsong, a Falun Gong practitioner from Laiwu City, Shandong Province, was arrested on October 15th, 2007, by Laiwu police. By November 11th he was dead as a result of torture. Mr. Qi Tingsong's family members appealed this injustice to the relevant departments for six months, but no one paid any attention to them. Because the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was responsible for his death due to torture, nobody dared to look into the matter. Instead, his family members were ridiculed, intimidated, and threatened.

Mr. Qi Tingsong before his death

Mr. Qi 's wife, who does not practise Falun Gong, went to Laiwu Police Department to demand that those responsible for her husband's death be brought to justice. One of the bureau chiefs said, "Qi Tingsong died because he was willing to ascend to heaven." Mr. Qi's wife asked, "How come you don't ascend to heaven?" He replied that he did not practise Falun Gong. She said to him, "Those who practise Falun Gong and are good people should not be killed. The ones who do not practise Falun Gong and only do bad deeds should be."

Corrupt CCP officials and the police work together to extort hard-earned money from ordinary working people. Mr. Qi 's wife, even though she was ill and grieving, tried to lodge an appeal, but no one would listen to her. In these very difficult circumstances, she had to hire a lawyer to sue, asking for redress for her husband.

After a lawyer accepted her case, the Shandong Province 610 Office¹ and the Shandong Province Judicial Bureau threatened and intimidated the lawyer by having "talks" with him and relentlessly applied pressure to prevent him from accepting this case. The Laiwu Political and Judiciary Committee and the Laiwu Police Department also frequently harassed and threatened him. They also tempted him with the promise of future gains. The CCP also fabricated rumours and false charges. In a fabricated "supporting document" that they gave to the lawyer, the CCP claimed that Qi Tingsong "had been released on bail for medical treatment" and falsely reported that one of Qi Tingsong's relatives had signed the "signature of agreement" and declared that Qi Tingsong's death had nothing to do with them. In fact, when Mr. Qi had been tortured almost to death, they feared he would live and expose what they had done to him, so they stopped his prescribed injections and Mr. Qi died. Then they eagerly attempted to evade responsibility by trying to compel his wife to sign a document confirming that Mr. Qi had already been released, despite the fact that she was overcome with the loss of her husband. She adamantly refused to sign anything.

The day after Mr. Qi Tingsong's death, the chief of the Shandong Province 610 Office went to Laiwu City, virulently attacked Falun Gong, and slandered Falun Gong practitioners on Laiwu television, all in support of the suppression.

The lawyer insisted on seeking justice and followed through based on facts and logic. Laiwu Police Department officials were in the wrong and had no recourse, so they had to comply with the lawyer's mediation to compensate Mr. Qi Tingsong's wife. The compensation was 80,000 yuan², and the additional storage fee for the corpse came to 18,000 yuan. Mr. Qi Tingsong's remains were cremated on May 14th, 2008.

Details about the torture of Mr. Qi Tingsong:

Mr. Qi Tingsong, 67 years old, was a retired teacher with the Ezhuang Coal Mine of the Mining Bureau in Shandong Province. On October 15th, 2007, he was arrested. On the evening of November 5th he was taken to Laiwu Hospital for emergency treatment, and by 3:10 a.m. the next morning the hospital had issued a written notice that he was "critically ill." According to a hospital exam, Mr. Qi's internal organs were failing, his upper gastrointestinal tracts had haemorrhaged, and his internal injuries were serious. Seeing that he was dying, CCP officials tried to force his wife to sign a statement stating that Mr. Qi had already been released. On the morning of November 6th, the chief of the security section of Ezhuang Coal Mine, Yang Leping, and personnel from the judicial and police system of Laiwu City held a meeting at the local police station in Liangpo. They secretly decided to charge Mr. Qi with the so-called crimes of "using an illegal group to sabotage the execution of law" and "committing suicide in fear of punishment" before his death. Mr. Qi Tingsong died on November 11th, in the morning, at the Central Hospital of the Xinwen Mining Bureau. While he was comatose, there was blood in his stool and he spat up blood. His medical record indicated that his liver, heart, and kidneys were seriously failing; he had had to have a blood transfusion due to anaemia and upper gastrointestinal haemorrhage; the inside of his lip was damage; his tongue was dark and retracted; and his lower back and arm were marked by prominent scars.

Related report: http://www.clearharmony.net/articles/200712/42562.html

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/2008/6/29/181126.html