Another Falun Gong Practitioner Dies; Death Toll in Heilongjiang Province Reaches 132

It has been verified that Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Wang Jiguo has died as result of the savage torture he suffered at a local prison. According to statistics, Heilongjiang Province has the highest death toll of incarcerated Falun Gong practitioners in China.

According to the source, Mr. Wang Jiguo, an employee of the Mudanjiang Normal Institute, went to Beijing to appeal in March 2000. He was arrested, sent back to Mudanjiang City and sentenced to three years of forced labour. In August 2000, Wang Jiguo was tortured to near death and was diagnosed with liver cirrhosis, liver ascites, and comprehensive hepatorenal syndrome. The labour camp officials reluctantly allowed Mr. Wang Jiguo to receive medical treatment on the basis of parole. Mr. Wang Jiguo was then hospitalized.

In December 2000, three months after Wang Jiguo left the hospital, perpetrators from Mudanjiang Normal Institute arrested him again and sent him back to the labour camp. They ignored the fact that Wang Jiguo was urinating blood and almost blind in both eyes. Mr. Wang Jiguo was later sentenced to prison and was incarcerated at Mudanjiang Prison. He was again cruelly tortured until he was again on the brink of death. Medical treatment failed to revive him and he passed away in September 2003.

It was learned that Wang Jiguo's wife is also a Falun Gong practitioner. She is currently being detained at a labour camp. Their child is eight years old attending an elementary school.

Yesterday, a male official at the Security Division of Mudanjiang Normal Institute (telephone: 86-453-65112350) confirmed Wang Jiguo's death but he refused to give the cause of death.

According to statistics, Heilongjiang Province has the highest death toll of Falun Gong practitioners among all provinces in China. So far, 132 of the 824 Falun Gong practitioners whose torture death have been verified come from Heilongjiang Province. The youngest is the 17-year-old Chen Ying, a student from the Shuren High School in Jiamusi City, and the oldest is Zhou Jingsen, a 68-year-old professor from the Economy Management Institute, Harbin City.

Ms. Chen Ying was arrested during her trip to appeal in Beijing. On August 16, 1999, She died on August 16, 1999 while in police custody by jumping from a moving train trying to escape her captors.

Zhou Jingsen was arrested from home in the evening of September 29, 2002. He was detained at the Changlinzi Labour Camp, where he was tortured to near death. He passed away soon afterwards, on September 2, 2003.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.ca/mh/articles/2003/11/26/61283.html