Ms. Cao Huiqin, in her 60s, Dies As a Result of Torture after Six Days in Custody in Gansu Province

Ms. Cao Huiqin, in her 60s, is the wife of a 404 Factory (a huge military facility) employee and lived in 404 Factory family housing in Jiayuguan City, Gansu Province. On December 2nd, 2008, during the snowstorm, officers from the 404 Factory Police Department ransacked Ms. Cao's home and arrested her. They took her computer, printer, stereo, and a DVD player. Officers interrogated her from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m. The police said they would detain her for 15 days and demanded that her family pay 1000 yuan¹.

On December 5th, the police took her to the 404 Factory Detention Centre. People were assigned to hide near her home and follow any practitioners that tried to visit or look after her husband.

On December 8th, the police said they checked on her at 9:45 p.m. and she was fine, but by 10 p.m., she had apparently hanged herself. The autopsy revealed her calm expression, rope marks on her neck, a needle puncture, and bruises on her back.

Ms. Cao's family insists that it was impossible that she committed suicide, because her expression showed no signs of a struggle and her tongue was not sticking out as would be expected in a hanging. They say it would have been impossible for her to tear the sheet, make the rope, hang herself from the ceiling, and die, all within 15 minutes.

Her family believes she was killed and the then authorities fabricated a suicide to deceive them.

On the morning of December 11th, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) secretary of the Second Branch of the 404 Factory went to Ms. Cao's family to ask to settle the matter privately. He quietly admitted guilt and said that those in charge wanted to compensate the family so they could buy a burial plot for Ms. Cao. The secretary asked the family to have her cremated. Ms. Cao's family is insisting on justice in the case of her death.

Deng Lei, 404 Factory Detention Centre director: 86-937-6786782
He Xiukui, Detention Centre CCP Director: 86-937-6786333
Liu Jie, another Detention Centre director: 86-937-6788651/6784856
Officer Shang Xinhua: 86-937-6783092

Officer Liu Zhengquan: 86-937-6788659

Officer Li Gecheng: 86-937-6786438
Officer He Bin: 86-937-6784501
Officer Tian Zhanjun: 86-937-3650912

Note

1. "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/2008/12/18/191807.html