Mr. Li Yukun of Zhucheng City Died As a Result of Persecution

Mr. Li Yukun lived in Liangtai Village, Guojiatun Town, Zhucheng City, Shandong Province. He began to practise Falun Gong in 1996 and benefited a great deal. He became more eager to help people and was considerate of others in every respect. He also taught his relatives and friends the Falun Gong exercises, and as a result, many them became practitioners.

After July 20th, 1999, when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began the persecution of Falun Gong, Mr. Li and his family were frequently harassed. Officers from the local police station monitored him and prohibited him from going outside. On July 5th, 2000, Mr. Li managed to escape and went to Beijing with five fellow practitioners to appeal on behalf of Falun Gong. He was arrested on Tiananmen Square and taken to the Zhucheng City Liaison Office. At night, he was brutally beaten.

At 5 p.m. On July 6th, 2000, Li Yukun was brought back to Guojiatun Town along with five other practitioners and placed in a meeting room. Qing Jie, director of the Guojiatun Town Police Station, forced them to sit in a row on the ground. After beating and kicking them, Qing Jie hit them with an electric baton. He forced them to eat salt and drink salty water and the left them in the horse-riding posture out in the hot sun. When Mr. Li asked for some water, he was cursed and not allowed to have any. He was tortured like this all day. At 5 p.m. on July 7th, four of the practitioners were taken back to their village while Mr. Li and another female practitioner were brutally beaten. Mr. Li's teeth were knocked out. At 7 p.m. on July 7th, he was taken to the Zhucheng City Police Department where he was detained for forty days.

Every practitioner in Guojiatun Town was persecuted by Qing Jie. Some practitioners' homes were searched. Some were subjected to extortion. Qing Jie beat everyone who appealed for Falun Gong.

In 2006, Guojiatun Town and Xiangzhou Town merged. Since then the police have continued to harass practitioners. In September 2006, Li Yukun's home was searched again, and all his Falun Gong books were seized. In addition, he was monitored and prohibited from going outside.

In 2007, officers from the Xiangzhou Town Police Station called Mr. Li's home many times to harass him.

On August 1st, 2008, Li Yukun went to Qingdao City to visit his uncle. In the railway station in Gaomi City, police officers checked his ID card and then arrested him. The officers called the local police station and Mr. Li was taken to a nearby school. The officers asked him if he was still practising Falun Gong. Mr Li refused to answer as they wished, so the officers flew into a rage and intensified the persecution against him. As a result Mr Li's physical condition deteriorated. At last, he was released on August 5th, 2008, after 5,000 yuan¹ in cash was extorted from his family.

For eight years, Mr Li suffered inhuman persecution at the hands of officers from the Zhucheng City Police Department and the Xiangzhou Town Police Station. As a result, he was devastated both mentally and physically. On August 14th, 2008, he developed heart problems, and at 2 a.m. on August 16th, he passed away.

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/2009/3/22/197579.html