Mr. Zeng Huaguo from Hunan Province Beaten to Death in Custody

Name: Zeng Huaguo
Gender: Male
Age: 57
Address: 100 Jiadiancheng Neighbourhood, Shaodong County, Hunan Province
Occupation: Home Appliance Salesperson
Date of Death: August 25th, 2010
Date of Most Recent Arrest: August 19th, 2010
Most Recent Place of Detention: Shaodong County Domestic Security Division
City: Shaodong County
Province: Hunan Province
Persecution Suffered: Beatings, home ransacked, interrogation, detention

Mr. Zeng Huaguo made his living selling home appliances in the Jiadiancheng Community, and his property was valued at more than 1000,000 yuan¹. He was an honest businessman, with a son and a daughter who are both married, and all were selling home appliances in the Jiadiancheng community. Depressed due to working too hard, Mr. Zeng once lived a miserable existence. He began practising Falun Gong in 2007, and it mentally and physically changed him into a completely new person. He experienced no illness after he began practising, and others noticed the miraculousness of Falun Gong.

Mr. Zeng was distributing leaflets exposing the persecution and telling people the facts about Falun Gong on June 21st, 2010, when he told a man with compassion "I sincerely care about your well-being." He told him and others how Falun Gong saved his life. He asked the man to please not believe the slanderous propaganda spread by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and not to commit crimes against Falun Gong.

That man was a plainclothes officer, and he arrested Mr. Zeng and took him to the Songjiatang Industrial Zone Detention Centre. The police ransacked his home at 11:00 a.m. and on the same day, took his Falun Gong books away. He told the police in the detention centre how he benefited from practising Falun Gong. His son-in-law signed the three statements to renounce practising Falun Gong on his behalf, and he was released ten days later.

On August 19th, Mr. Zeng went to the Shaodong County Domestic Security Division compound to request that he be given back his Falun Gong books. Officers arrested him and, within six days, had cruelly beat him to death. On his back was a cut 13 stitches long. The police did not notify his family when he was taken to the hospital but did notify the neighbourhood administration to restrict the information. They delayed letting the family know of his death for 24 hours and falsely claimed: "He died by jumping off a building at the hospital."

Mr. Zeng's son saw the 13 stitches on his back and asked the police, "Since you said he died from jumping off a building at the hospital and there video cameras are all over the place, please provide a video of his jumping as evidence." The police lied instantly, saying, "The camera was not set." The police gave orders that no one in the hospital be a witness, threatened his family, and bribed them with 260,000 yuan to buy their silence.

Ms. He Benxiang from Jiadiancheng Community Forced to Leave Home

Ms. He Benxiang, 39, also lives in the Jiadiancheng Community. After Mr. Zeng was beaten to death, domestic security officers broke into her home multiple times, but she was not there. She had to leave home to avoid being arrested.

Ms. He began practising Falun Gong in 2004, and her bad temper changed to being loving and calm. In 2008 she found more than a dozen sacred Udumbara flowers blooming on her window glass at home. The flowers are snow white and fragrant and bloom only every three thousand years.

In early July 2009, Domestic Security officers ransacked her home when she was not there and took her computer, TV, phone book, and residence registration booklet. These officers went to her home again on July 29th, 2009, and arrested her, ransacked her home again, and detained her for 12 days in the Shaodong County Detention Centre.

One month later, Domestic Security officers broke into her home early on the morning of September 19th, 2009, and tried to arrest her. Ms. He escaped by climbing over a wall. Officers came back at 5:00 a.m. on September 20th, 2009, broke both the front and back doors, and found nothing, but they took her MP4 player. They told people that the Shaoyang City Police Department ordered Ms. He's arrest before the October 1st National Day and to detain Falun Gong practitioners during this "sensitive time period."

Luo Wen, Shaodong County 610 Office chair: 86-13973978648 (Mobile)
Liu Jianbao, Shaodong County 610 Office agent: 86-13762888586 (Mobile)
Long Yanyun, Shaodong County Domestic Security Division chief: 86- 13807391788 (Mobile)
Yang Xiuwen, director of Shaodong County Police Department: 86-13973961612 (Mobile)
Chen Liansheng, Jiadiancheng Community Administration chair: 86-13975957566 (Mobile)
Jiang Xinhe, local officer of Jiadiancheng Community: 86-13973581954(Mobile)

Note

1. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2010/8/31/229023.html