Li Yi from Shenyang City Dies as a Result of Brutal Persecution

Name: Li Yi
Gender: Male
Age: 42
Address:Yuhong District, Shenyang City, Liaoning Province
Occupation: Unknown
Date of Death: March 26th, 2011
Date of Most Recent Arrest: June 6th, 2008
Most recent place of detention: Tiexi Detention Centre
City: Shenyang
Province: Liaoning
Persecution Suffered: Detention, forced labour reform, loss of employment, interrogation, sleep deprivation, torture, beatings, forced-feedings.

Falun Gong practitioner Li Yi was arrested and imprisoned many times after the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started to persecute Falun Gong. He was in critical condition twice. Mr. Li was finally taken home from the detention centre by his family, and died on March 26th, 2011 at age 42.

Li Yi started to practise Falun Gong in March of 1998. After he began the practice, he became healthy and followed the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance to be a good person. After July 1999, when the CCP started to persecute Falun Gong, Li Yi went to the provincial CCP party committee to appeal for Falun Gong and was arrested. He was taken home by his employer. On December 25th, 1999, the local police arrested Li Yi and detained him for one night, in order to prevent practitioners from travelling to Beijing to appeal.

At the end of July 2001, Li Yi was reported to the police while distributing leaflets exposing the persecution and telling people the facts about Falun Gong. He was sentenced to two years' forced labour and suffered from brutal persecution at the Zhangshi Forced Labour Camp in Shenyang City. He was also fired by his employer at the same time.

In the early evening of April 5th, 2006, Li Yi was arrested by around ten police officers, including Ma Wei and Gu Xin from the Weigong Police Station and the Tiexi Public Security Bureau, and Yang Hai from the National Security Team from the Tiexi Public Security Bureau. In the Weigong Police Station in the Tiexi District, officers Yang Hai, Li, Gu Xin and three other police officers tortured and interrogated Li Yi in an attempt to obtain a “confession.” They did not allow Mr. Li to sleep for an entire day and night. Several police officers cuffed Li Yi's hands behind the back of a chair, and forcefully pressed his head down until he was sitting on the ground. The police put his legs together and began forcing his body into a stretch on the ground by pulling up on the handcuffs. Officer Yang Hai stomped on Li Yi's legs and kept his shoes rolling back and forth. An officer even tried to sit on top of Li Yi's back and used the heel of his shoe to kick his lower back very hard. Li Yi's hands were swollen and lost circulation. His wrists were broken and had two deep creases. He could not straighten his back or walk without help. Police Gu Xin also put a motorcycle helmet on Li Yi and tightened the buckle until it almost choked him to death.

The next morning, officer Li from the National Security Team of the Tiexi Public Security Bureau brought Li Yi to the police lounge next to the duty office in the Weigong Police Station, cuffed his hands to the back of a chair, and proceeded to torture and interrogate him.

By noontime, officer Li had not obtained anything from Li Yi. He then started to threaten Mr. Li: “We do not have any concern if we beat you to death. We will count your death as a suicide. Even more, we will harvest your internal organs just like at Sujiatun Concentration Camp.” Later, the police lit a cigarette and put it near Li Yi's nose to choke him with the smoke. Officers Yu Yang and Ma Wei from the Weigong Police Station said, “If the cigarette smoke is not strong enough, we have the 'super smoking pipe' (referring to a pipe that produces a more intense smoke)!" Officer Li ordered an assistant to prepare a smoking pipe. Another officer grabbed Li Yi's hair to shake and hit his head. He also tried to take pictures of Li Yi, who lowered his head and closed his eyes, not cooperating with the police. The police called officer Yang Hai to help them, but they failed to take the picture. The police became very angry and kept pulling up on the handcuffs on Li Yi's hands. Li Yi shouted loudly, “Falun Gong is good!” This frightened the police and they gave up.

Around 6 p.m. in the afternoon, Li Yi was sent to the Tiexi District Detention Centre in Shenyang City. Because he was badly injured by the police, the detention centre refused to accept him. Officer Gu Xin and others from the Weigong Police Station sent Li Yi to the Second Hospital of Shenyang Medical College for a checkup. The examination identified his many wounds, but the police still imprisoned him at the Tiexi District Detention Centre. Li Yi stated a hunger strike to protest his persecution in the detention centre. By the fifth day, he was extremely weak. His hands were numb from lack of blood. He could not straighten his back, and he could not walk by himself. Mr. Li was taken back home by his family on April 10th.

On June 14th, not long after Li Yi was taken back home, he and his father were arrested by the Law Office of the Tiexi Public Security Bureau by officer Li Zhenyu and two other officers from the Weigong Police Station in the Tiexi Public Security Bureau. Officer Zhu of the law office announced the forced labor sentence to Li Yi. Mr. Li reminded them that the persecution of Falun Gong did not have any legal foundation and told them that they had clearly broken the law. That same day, Li Yi and his father went back home.

On July 6th, 2006, dozens of officers from the Tiexi Public Security Bureau and the Weigong Police Station surrounded Li Yi's home. From 9 a.m. in the morning until 10 p.m. at night, all these officers and many “community assisting personnel” along with many police vehicles waited downstairs for a chance to arrest Li Yi.

On June 6th, 2008 around 10 a.m, Li Yi was arrested again. He was working at Chengda Refrigeration Ltd in the Zhangshi Development Zone in Shenyang City at the time. Officer Cao from the National Security Team in the Tiexi Public Security Bureau, officer Wang Maobin from the Weigong Police Station, and another officer used a vehicle to ram into the building, breaking into Li Yi's workplace. They arrested Li Yi while he was at work. When people passing by asked the reason for the arrest, the police lied, saying that he was wanted for stealing. Later, the police imprisoned Li Yi in the Tiexi Police Station. At 4 p.m. in the afternoon, officer Wang Maobin from the Weigong Police Station came to Li Yi's home and brought a "detention notice" for his family to sign. His family refused. Wang Maobin said it did not matter whether a family member signed the paper or not. Then he left.

Li Yi went on a hunger strike again in the detention centre to protest his arrest. During his detention, Mr. Li was brutally force-fed. On the eighth day, he was extremely weak and his life was in great danger. Li Yi had come so close to death that the police and CCP personnel wanted to get rid of him before he died, so they released him to his family members to try to avoid responsibility for his death. When Li Yi's family members saw him, he was almost unrecognizable and he was dying. His family members carried him back home.

Because of the many times Li Yi was arrested, detained, harassed and tortured during the past few years, his health suffered greatly and he could not recover. He died on March 26th, 2011, as a direct result of the persecution.

Related Personnel and Offices that Participated in Persecuting Li Yi:
Weigong Police Station in Tiexi District, Shenyang City
Chief: Fu Shuguang
Tiexi District Public Security Bureau in Shenyang City
Chief: Wu
National Security Team in Tiexi District Public Security Bureau
Caption: Zhang Baixun, Zhang Changshi, Li Shuwen (former caption)
Tiexi District Detention Centre
Directors: Feng and Wang

Related articles:

http://clearwisdom.net/html/articles/2006/5/2/72710.html

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2011/3/28/238181.html