Death Cases

  • As the Olympics Approach, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Issues Secret Order to Intensify the Persecution of Falun Gong

    Mr. Zhang Zhijun, a practitioner from Nanchong City, Sichuan Province, died under mysterious circumstances in Xi'an Prison in Shanxi Province, on February 23rd, 2008. Authorities notified his wife by telephone, but when she arrived at the prison, officials tried to block her from seeing Mr. Zhang's body. Only when she threatened to kill herself on the spot if they didn't obey her demands, was she allowed to see the body. Mr. Zhang's face was swollen. Strangulation marks were visible around his blackened neck. Mr. Zhang's wife demanded an autopsy and went to a law office, but the lawyers told her: "The government has told us [not to accept Falun Gong related cases]. We don't dare to take your case." Prison authorities cremated Mr. Zhang's body the next day.
  • Mr. Sun Guanzhou Dies after only Seven Days in Custody in Henan Province

    Mr. Sun Guanzhou, 62 and a Falun Gong practitioner, lived in Yuzhou City, Henan Province. On March 3rd, 2008, three domestic security agents and three other agents ransacked his home, claiming they were checking for computer viruses. They instead arrested him and took him to the city detention centre. Only seven days later he was dead. On March 9th Mr. Sun's wife received a phone call to go to the hospital. When she arrived, she saw Mr. Sun's cold body. She was distraught! Agents tried to keep her from the body and tried to force her to sign the papers to have his body cremated.
  • Mr. Yu Zhou Tortured to Death, His Wife Detained

    Mr. Yu Zhou and his wife, Xu Na, both practitioners, lived in Beijing. On January 26th, 2008, police blocked their vehicle on their way home, arrested them, and took them directly to the Tongzhou District Detention Centre. Eleven days later, on February 6th, their family received notice to come quickly to visit Mr. Yu in the Qinghe Emergency Centre. When his family got there, Mr. Yu was already dead, and his body was covered with a white sheet. A breathing machine mask was still on his face, but his legs were ice cold. The doctor told his family that he died from diabetes after being on a hunger strike. But his family said he had been very healthy and didn't have diabetes. The police requested a quick cremation of his body, but his family refused and asked to have an autopsy done. Their request was denied.
  • Ms. Gu Jianmin Dies after Thirteen Days in Custody in Shanghai

    Falun Dafa practitioner Ms. Gu Jianmin, 53, lived in Shanghai. She was sent to a forced labour camp for one year in June 2006 for distributing leaflets exposing the persecution and telling people the facts about Falun Gong. On March 1st, 2008, she was again arrested by police officers and they tortured her until she died on March 13th, 2008. On March 13th, 2008, an agent of the Pudong New District 610 Office called Ms. Gu's husband, saying that she was not well, and that he should come and process a medical parole. When he found Ms. Gu in the Gastric lavage room, her eyes were protruding, pupils enlarged, and she was bleeding from the mouth, but no one was taking care of her. Her husband knelt down in front of the doctors and begged them to save his wife. The doctor conducted a rather quick attempt at a rescue, then he declared that she was dead.
  • Older Practitioner Ms. Xu Huibi Dies after Being Tortured and Overworked in a Chongqing City Prison

    63-year-old Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Xu Huibi, was arrested by police at home. Because she did not give them any information or renounce Falun Gong, they detained her in a detention centre and was tortured with brutal force-feeding. The police sentenced her to four years in prison and took her to the Chongqing City Yongchuan Women's Prison. In prison, Xu Huibi was assigned to forced labour in the plant that has toxic gases. It was difficult to breathe, and she was forced to finish a certain amount of work each day. Ms. Xu was brutally tortured until she was very weak, and her feet were in extreme pain, causing her to be unable to walk. On August 31st, 2007, the prison administration finally ordered her family to come and pick her up. She died on March 7th, 2008.
  • Ten Deaths from Torture Confirmed in February 2008

    Yi Fuquan suffered many prison terms, detainments and tortures after the start of the persecution of Falun Gong and was sentenced to one year of forced labour because he went to Beijing to appeal. On August 19th, 2001, he was arrested at the bus station because police found Falun Gong books and flyers in his possession. He was sentenced to six years in prison. Guards saw that he would not renounce Falun Gong, so they had prisoners put 35 pound ankle shackles on him and forced him to stand out under the burning sun and beat him brutally. It was not until Mr. Yi was in critical condition that the prison agreed to release him on August 8th, 2007. He suffered in pain for another six months, dying on February 13th, 2008, at the age of 45.
  • 61-Year-Old Ms. Chen Wen'ai Dies as Result of Persecution in Sichuan Province

    Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Chen Wen'ai, 61, was arrested multiple times because she kept her faith in Falun Gong, and she was sentenced to six and a half years in prison after she was arrested on May 25th, 2005. Ms. Chen was detained in the Sichuan Province Women's Prison located in Jianyang City. The Prison Administration released her at the end of July 2007 because she was dying from the brutal mistreatment. Ms. Chen never recovered and died on February 24th, 2008.
  • The Persecution Ms. Zong Xiuxia Suffered before She Died

    On the morning of February 22nd, 2008, Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Zong Xiuxia, a resident of Weifang City, Shandong Province, was reported while she was distributing leaflets exposing the persecution and telling people the facts about Falun Gong near the Jialejia Supermarket in Kuiwen District. At around 11:00 a.m., Ms. Zong Xiuxia was taken to Guangwen Police Station and interrogated. That night, her family was notified to come down to the police station to identify and claim her body. It was noted that her time of the death was around 3:00 p.m. Her family was asked to acquiesce to their claim that Ms. Zong committed suicide.
  • Ms. Zou Jiqin Dies as a Result of Persecution in Heilongjiang Province

    Ms. Zou Jiqin, 45, was detained by police several times for refusing to renounce Falun Gong. In 2002, she went on a hunger strike to protest the detention, only to be tortured by being force-fed while tied on the floor with her four limbs stretched apart. She almost died from this treatment. Five times she was tortured with the "Big Back Cuff," an excruciating torture. She was also subjected to many other tortures, including being forced to sit on a wire spool (a very rough surface), not allowed to use the toilet, subjected to long-term sleep deprivation, forced to do hard labour, and subjected to freezing temperatures. Ms. Zou was in extremely poor health when she was finally released. On February 29th, 2008, Ms. Zou died at the age of 46.
  • Kuang Shitai's Story: Still Persecuted After His Wife Dies and Daughter Forced into Homelessness

    In February 2008, while Mr. Kuang Shitai, a Falun Gong practitioner was home alone, several officers from the local police station suddenly came and surrounded his home. They ordered him to turn in his daughter, Ms. Kuang Wenying. Over the past several years, Ms. Kuang Wenying has been detained and sent to forced labour camps. For the past few years, to avoid being arrested and persecuted again, she has led a vagrant life. She did not dare to go home to visit her father at all. His wife, Ms. Guo Sulan, suffered poor health due to persecution. She could not go home either and had to remain homeless. After one year of painful suffering, she passed away in November 2003.
  • Mr. Wang Guiming Died on February 29th in Chaoyanggou Forced Labour Camp, Jilin Province

    Falun Dafa practitioner Mr. Wang Guiming, 40, was arrested in 2002 by police and sentenced to five years in prison. In the Jilin prison, Mr. Wang was once brutally beaten for eight days straight, until he was almost unrecognisable and in critical condition. On February 23rd, 2004, he was transferred to Siping City Prison. Mr. Wang was locked in a small cell and guards shocked him with four electric batons, severely injuring his face . Mr. Wang went on a hunger strike to protest, and the guards force-fed him nearly for a month in the prison hospital. He died on February 29th, 2008.
  • Ms. Wei Rongdi, in Her Fifties, from Benxi City, Liaoning Province Died as a Result of Torture and Delayed Treatment

    Wei Rongdi was 53 years old. After the persecution started on July 20th, 1999, she distributed leaflets explaining the truth about Falun Gong so that the Chinese people could understand the unreasonable persecution and what Falun Gong is really about. She went to Beijing several times to appeal for Falun Gong and was persecuted for doing so. On April 26th, 2007, Benxi City Police Department officials arrested more than 70 practitioners overnight. Ms. Wei was one of them. They kept her in Dabailou Detention Centre. She developed a tumour in her stomach. Although she was released, the police never stopped harassing her. Due to the long-term torture and the delayed treatment, her physical condition deteriorated. Wei Rongdi died on February 17th, 2008.
  • As Beijing Prepares for the Olympics, Seven More Falun Gong Practitioners Are Verified to Have Died as a Result of Persecution and Torture in January 2008

    In January 2008, seven more Falun Gong practitioners in China were verified to have died as a result of persecution and torture. Six of them were women, three over the age of 50, and three died in January. Since July 20th, 1999, when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began to persecute Falun Gong, at least 3,127 practitioners have died as a result of the persecution. This is the ninth year of this systematic, brutal persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. Nine years ago, despite the benefits Falun Gong brought to the Chinese people and society as a whole, former head of the CCP Jiang Zemin started the persecution because there were more Falun Gong practitioners than the number of people in the Communist Party.
  • Mr. Chen Baofeng Died in Police Custody in Liaoning Province

    Mr. Chen Baofeng, 43, lived in Liaoning Province. On February 24th, 2008, he was driving his taxi to take some friends out of town when the police stopped his vehicle, and arrested him and his passengers. After being held for several days, they were transferred to the Chaoyang City First Detention Centre on March 3rd, 2008. Mr. Chen was killed the same night, and thus far, the family has still not been allowed to see his body.
  • Mr. Yi Fuquan Dies as Result of Torture in Tailai Prison, Heilongjiang Province

    Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Yi Fuquan was sentenced to one year of forced labour because he went to Beijing to appeal for justice for Falun Gong after July 20th, 1999, the start of the persecution. On August 19th, 2001, Mr. Yi was arrested at the bus station when police found a Falun Gong book and flyer on him. He was sentenced to six years in prison by the Shuangcheng City Court. Tailai Prison guards forced Mr. Yi sit on the floor, cuffed his four limbs stretched apart onto a metal structure under the baking sun, and did not allow him to drink water. After a while, they released his feet and put three bricks under each foot, elevating his legs over his head for a long while. Due to long-term brutal mistreatment, Mr. Yi died on February 13th, 2008 at age 45.