Wei Chaozong Dies as a Result of Torture

Falun Dafa Practitioner Wei Chaozong from Suning County, Cangzhou, Hebei Province was sent to the Shijiazhuang Forced Labour Camp on May 1, 2002. After three months of brutal torture, he was released in terrible physical condition. A few days later, he died on August 10, 2002.

Before his death, Wei Chaozong had suffered many rounds of persecution. At the end of August 2001, he was abducted by riot police from the Cangzhou City Police Department and suffered brutal torture. Later he was again abducted by the Cangzhou City Police Department. His wife, Du Yuqin, also a Falun Dafa practitioner, was sentenced to 8 years of imprisonment for her belief in Falun Dafa. The authorities would not even allow her to attend Wei Chaozong's funeral.

When Wei Chaozong was arrested at the end of August 2001, the vicious police beat him with leather belts and slapped him repeatedly in the face. The next day, he was sent to the No. 1 Detention Centre of Cangzhou City, where Wei began a hunger strike in protest. The police responded by using various instruments of torture to torment him. After the police grew tired, they ordered 5 or 6 inmates to continue beating him. They told the inmates to beat him as hard as they could and not to worry about beating him to death, because even if he were beaten to death, the case could be treated as suicide. In spite of this, Wei Chaozong continued his hunger strike. The evil police tied him to an iron bed. As they verbally threatened Wei, they started the mechanism on the bed that would tighten the belt tied around him more and more. The belt cut deeply into his flesh, and Wei lost consciousness many times. Because of the brutal torture, he could not straighten out his back, even though he was only 39 years old. He was finally released because the police feared for the responsibility in case he died.

On April 17, 2002, the local police once again arrested both him and his wife from their home in Suning County. He was detained in the No. 1 Detention Center of Cangzhou City. His wife was detained in the No. 2 Detention Centre and sentenced to 8 years of imprisonment on August 19, 2002. On May 1, 2001, Wei was transferred to the Second Brigade of the Shijiazhuang Forced Labour Camp. In the forced labour camp, Wei persisted in his belief and refused to give in to the police. The police arbitrarily forced him to remain immobile throughout the day. If he moved at all, they would physically assault him. The people who monitored him would torture him with various means including punching, kicking and hanging him upside down. Everyday, he was only allowed to eat a small steamed bun. After three months of torture, he became so skinny that his body looked seriously deformed and he appeared to be in serious danger of dying. The forced labour camp then informed his brother to take him back home on August 1, 2002. After Wei Chaozong went home, he could not drink or eat at all. Even in this situation, the police still forced his brother to write on his behalf the so-called "Repentance Statement" [A statement to acknowledge remorse for practicing Falun Gong, to give up Falun Gong, and to never again associate with those practitioners who practice Falun Gong and/or go to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong.]

Wei Chaozong passed away on August 10, 2002. His family went to the No. 2 Detention Center of the Cangzhou City to request that Wei's wife be allowed to come home temporarily to attend his funeral and see Wei for the last time, but the callous police authorities refused this request. Wei and his wife have two daughters, who have been deprived of their parents' care.