Female Practitioner Murdered for Telling the Truth

Li Shuyuan was a 51 year-old woman from Dahuangdi Village, Taijitun Town, Lianshan District of Huludao City, Liaoning Province. On the night of July 6, 2002, sources report that she was murdered by a group of malicious thugs lurking in Jinlizi Village.

On October 17, 1999, Li Shuyuan went to peacefully appeal for Falun Gong in Beijing. She was detained by Huludao City Police Department for a month. During the detention, a guard named Yuan beat her up with a baton and a wolf's-tooth-stick because she performed the Falun Dafa exercises. She was bruised all over and her lower back was too painful to move herself around. Afterwards, Li Shuyuan went to appeal in Beijing again. Policemen from Taijitun Town Police Station climbed the walls and broke into her home. They ransacked her home and extorted 1000 Yuan [200 Yuan is the average monthly income in rural areas of China] from her.

On July 7, 2000, policemen from Taijitun Town Police Station kidnapped her and took her to a brainwashing class. She was detained 28 days there. In the hot summer, she and twelve other male and female practitioners were packed together in a 15-square-meter room [about 160 square feet]. It was stuffy and damp. They were forced to sit and sleep on the cement floor day and night, as there was no bed or blankets. Their own families had to send them meals everyday. Many practitioners were beaten up or exposed under the scorching sun for over a dozen days.

In the Spring Festival of 2001, in fear of Li Shuyuan's going to appeal in Beijing, the town authority ordered Li Dehua and Yu Detian to go to Li Shuyuan's home every morning and night to watch her. This continued for a week.

On June 11, 2001, Li Shuyuan was reported to police by a thug when she was distributing truth-clarifying flyers. Policemen from Huangtukan Township Police Station beat her up and then forcibly took her to Nanpiao District Police Department. As she would not tell where the flyers were from, division chief Shi and team chief Wang brutally beat her from 2:00 p.m. until 11:00 p.m. Her face was swollen and deformed. Her mouth was broken and bleeding. She felt excruciating pain in her chest when breathing. Her leg was beaten black and blue. Yellow secretions ran down from the bruised part of her leg for over a week. It was still painful even one month after the beating. Afterwards, she was transferred to Nanpiao District Detention Centre and then to Huludao City Detention Centre. On August 27, 2001, she was released.

On September 20, 2001, two policemen from Huangtukan Township Police Station tricked Li Shuyuan into coming to Nanpiao District Police Department and then notified her that she had been sentenced to three years of forced labour in the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp. As Li Shuyuan wanted to appeal, she was temporally detained in Nanpiao District Detention Centre. On the sixth night, Li was sent in a comma to Nanpiao District Hospital. Afterwards, her family brought her home. After she was back home, the Nanpiao District policemen went to her home to arrest her several times so she was forced to leave home and live in exile.

On the night of July 6, 2002, Li Shuyuan and two fellow practitioners went to distribute truth-clarifying flyers in Jinlizi Village. She did not return. On the next day, her lifeless body was found in Jinlizi Village. She had been forced to the ground with her hands behind her back. Her face was covered with dirt. There was evidence of her being held there, kicking and struggling for her life. Some truth-clarifying materials were found under her body. Bruising and other clues in the surrounding area also confirmed that there had been a struggle, and that she had been forcibly held down. Her head was swollen and had a bump on it, and there were other wounds on her body. According to the autopsy by legal medical experts, she died of asphyxiation.

People hearing of her death all said that she had been murdered by a group of thugs staking out the village looking for practitioners to arrest.