Details of 72-Year-Old Ms. Cheng Ke's Death Due to Persecution

Name: Cheng Ke
Gender: Female
Age: 72
Address: Tianjin City
Occupation: Retired employee from the Huabei Construction Materials Company in Tianjin
Date of Death: 2004
Date of Most Recent Arrest: 2004
Most Recent Place of Detention: Hexi District Public Security Bureau Detention Centre in Tianjin
City: Tianjin
Persecution Suffered: Torture, force-feedings, detention

Ms. Cheng Ke died after being force-fed in the Hexi District Public Security Bureau Detention Centre in 2004. The following is a witness' account of her death.

I was arrested by the police for telling people the facts about the persecution of Falun Gong on September 28th, 2004. I met Ms. Cheng in the detention centre.

Ms. Cheng was released from Banqiao Women's Forced Labour Camp on August 24th, 2004. She was arrested again approximately two weeks later and held in the detention centre. She asked a guard for a pen and paper, and wrote a letter to the Procuratorate detailing how she had benefited from the practice, and asked the authorities to stop the persecution of Falun Gong. She then went on a hunger strike to protest the persecution and asked for all practitioners to be released.

Zhang Lihong and several other guards force-fed her at around 5 p.m. on the third day of her detention. Ms. Cheng was brought to our cell two hours later. Zhang commanded, "Leave her on the ground; nobody shall help her." Ms. Cheng was clearly in pain and told the inmates, "They force-fed me. You are the witnesses." She asked many times, in a weak voice, "I am thirsty, I need water." Nobody dared to give her water, fearing retaliation from the guards. The next morning, six guards came in and saw Ms. Cheng still lying on the ground. The guards ordered someone to pull her up onto the bed.

The head of the detention centre, Tian Baosheng, and the prison doctor quickly came in to check on her. At around 10 a.m., the guard on duty said, "She's dying," and then left. At around noon, we were told that Ms. Cheng had died. She was silent, with her eyes wide open.

The next day, guard Zhang called together the inmates and warned them, "You will say that she died of a heart attack; not one of you will say what happened. If you do, you can forget about going home." The officials at the detention centre later gave these inmates two cases of drinks after they gave false testimony.

More information about Ms. Cheng Ke can be found at

http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/11/19/54719.html

Those responsible for the persecution:

Tian Baosheng, deputy head, Hexi District Public Security Bureau Detention Centre

Zhang Lihong, guard, Hexi District Public Security Bureau Detention Centre

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2010/10/30/231677.html