Issued by Clearwisdom Net

The Police unlawfully arrested Falun Gong practitioners Ms. Xu Hongmei and Ms. Shen Zili, and brutally tortured them for five days. As a result, they lapsed into a deep coma and passed away on February 27, 2007. Their bodies were hastily cremated between 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. on March 1, 2007, under police watch.

Xu Hongmei

Shen Zili

Zhang Hang, the deputy head of Longsha District Police Department in Qiqihar City led a large group of plainclothes police officers. They drove to the crematorium on the morning of March 1, 2007. Xu Hongmei's nine-year-old daughter Tian Tian wore black silk on her arm [custom of mourning] and held her mother's picture in her hands. People cried when they saw the little girl. Many police officers watched Xu Hongmei's family as they paid final respects. The following are details:

Ms. Xu Hongmei and Ms. Shen Zili, from Heilongjiang Province, were arrested on February 13, 2007. Participating in the arrest were officer Yi Zhanhui and others from Qingyun Street Police Station. The practitioners were shackled and taken to the Inpatient Department of the 2nd Hospital. Their families took care of them at their bedside. When the families asked about the black and purple bruises all over the practitioners' bodies, the police answered by saying that the practitioners had hit themselves against hard objects.

Shen Zili and Xu Hongmei, who were at the brink of death, told their families that the officers at the Qinglong Street Police Station including Yi Zhanhui had beaten them for five days. Xu Hongmei was hung by her handcuffs, and also hung with her handcuffs behind her back. She was further tied in a spread eagle position and locked in a metal cage. After she lost consciousness, the police poured cold water on her and resumed the torture once she came to. Shen Zili was wrapped and immobilized in a chair with tape. The police hit her head against a wall until she lost consciousness. They savagely beat her when she regained consciousness. Shen Zili and Xu Hongmei were treated at a police hospital and then transported to the Qiqihar City Detention Center. They were taken to Qiqihar City 2nd Hospital's Inpatient Ward on February 17, 2007 due to severe internal injuries. Both had blood coming from their mouths and were coughing blood. They later went into convulsions. Their bodies swelled and then they lapsed into deep comas. While in a deep coma, Xu Hongmei sobbed constantly, and tears streamed down her face despite her lack of response to external stimulus.

On the afternoon of February 27, 2007, Shen Zili and Xu Hongmei's family members stood around the two practitioners and cried when a police officer shouted, "Why are they are not dead yet?" The sorrowful families condemned the officer, who left the room. Xu Hongmei and Shen Zili passed away at 4:30 p.m. and 8:50 p.m. respectively on February 27, 2007.

Ms. Xu Hongmei was born in 1971 and started practicing Falun Gong in 1995. After the Chinese Communist regime began persecuting Falun Gong on July 20, 1999, Xu Hongmei was arrested, detained five times and held in a labor camp for three years. She was savagely tortured at the Shuanghe Women's Forced Labor Camp in Qiqihar City. The cruel abuse left her unable to walk. She was forbidden from meeting with her family during the three years. Her husband Sun Weimin was sentenced to 13 years in prison and is now held at the Tailai Prison. Their daughter Tian Tian was confined in the abandoned dormitory of a gear factory along with her parents since she was one year old. The dormitory did not have any heat. Tian Tian grew up in terror and fear.

Ms. Shen Zili was cruelly tortured at the Shuanghe Women's Forced Labor Camp of Qiqihar City. Tiefeng Police Department arrested her on April 2, 2006. She was taken to Shuguang Police Station where she was tortured with the tiger bench, "five horses split the body," bamboo sticks and metal pipes. The guards also hit her thighs with hammers. Guard Sheng Tao whipped the soles of her feet with a bamboo plank about five inches wide until she lost consciousness from pain. Shen Zili lost consciousness many times during the torture. The guards also poured cold water on her and burned her with cigarettes. Tiefeng Police Department and Shuguang Police Station extorted more than 23,000 yuan from Shen Zili's family.

On February 12, 2007, the Pudong New District Court of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in Shanghai illegally sentenced Hong Kong practitioner Ms. Zeng Aihua, 58, to a 3-year prison term.

The Court changed the trial time 3 days before the scheduled date. On that day, several dozen policemen were placed every 2 meters from the Court gate to the tribunal. Outside the Court there were many plain-clothes police officers. In addition, some officers kept Falun Gong practitioners under house arrest, or in police stations. The Court assigned the smallest room to the trial. Zeng's family got audit admissions for only two people. A dozen other auditors were possibly National Security spies.

Zeng Aihua was not allowed to wear her eyeglasses when she was escorted to the tribunal by two policemen. This made her steps unstable and she was unable to recognize her family members. After almost nine months of illegal detention and torture, Ms. Zeng appeared much older but was still calm and spoke with a clear mind.

Li Jianjun, Procurator at Pudong New District Procuratorate, charged Zeng with "publicizing Falun Gong." The so-called "evidence" was 159 copies of DVDs with Falun Gong materials stolen from Zeng's residence (detailed content was not disclosed), along with 69 DVDs stolen from Long Xiuyun's residence and 19 DVDs from another practitioner's home. Testimony from a neighbor named Gu Hongliang claimed that he saw Long leaving Zeng's home with the materials.

None of the three witnesses showed up at the trial. It is known that Long Xiuyun also suffered from severe torture. She has been illegally detained since last June and no one has seen her. She is facing trial. Under such circumstances, the so-called testimony lacks credibility. The CCP Court is aware of this, so they revealed Zeng's archive to her defendant lawyer only three days before the trial date, and did not allow the lawyer to discuss the case with Zeng afterwards.

Ms. Zeng admitted that she made the DVDs, but denied that it was a crime. The judge cut her off immediately and told her to tell if the evidence was true or not. Zeng Aihua said, "I have been indifferent to life-and-death for a long time. However, I have been a good law-abiding citizen. It is the country's sadness that today I am standing here being tried. I hope every one of you can show your conscience!"

Ms. Zeng's words touched everyone there. Then her lawyer tried to make an innocent defense for her. But Judge Shi Yaohui hurriedly took out a pre-made judgment statement and illegally sentenced her to a 3-year prison term at the tribunal based on charges of "damaging the country's law enforcement utilizing (slanderous words omitted)." The whole trial lasted merely an hour.

Shanghai National Security and 610 Office staff were afraid the news of the trial would be exposed. In order to block anyone from learning of it, they tapped and recorded the lawyer's mobile phone beginning three days before the trial, up to the day that this article was published (five days after). They also interfered with his phone signals, thus making the media unable to interview the lawyer. The home phone and mobile phone of Ms. Zeng's family residence in Shanghai had been tapped secretly. After the trial, the authorities deliberately made noises when tapping the phones, to remind her family of the tapping. The wiretapping even involved her in-laws in Fujian Province.

Ms. Zeng's 70-year old husband, Xu Xuede, had been in a hospital for three weeks. Due to severe arthritis he lost his ability to walk at all. He appeared at the trial in a wheel-chair. The authorities called his hospital the same afternoon of the illegal trial when they learned which hospital he was in, ordering the hospital management to monitor his activities and report to them even after he was discharged from the hospital. The hospital could not take such pressure and discharged Xu the very next day. He has been left without medical treatment and is suffering from unbearable pain day and night. The physical pain along with the sadness of his wife's illegal sentence has made his life unbearable.

The CCP National Security Bureau also reached overseas. Zeng Aihua's daughter, an Australian citizen named Chen Muhan, had been appealing to different people to save her mother. On February 11, the day before Ms. Zeng's trial, a spy sneaked into Chen's residence in Sidney, unplugged the modem, the router's network cable and power cord, and damaged the adapter. At present, it is not known if the files in the computer have been duplicated. Several months earlier, web spies hacked into Chen's email box and stole her letters appealing for the release of her mom that had been sent to Hong Kong's chief executive, Donald Tsang, and members of the legislature. Spies posing as Ms. Chen published a letter titled "Chen Muhan: Please help save my Mother" on websites such as Future China Forum. They also deviously changed the return email address in the letter to that of the spies. The letter contains Ms. Zeng's ID card number and personal information, including addresses and phone numbers in Hong Kong and Sidney. The action of the spies violated the privacy rights of Ms. Zeng and her family members. It raised a lot of attention after it was exposed in Australia.

Zeng Aihua is a steadfast Falun Gong practitioner. During her nine months of illegal detention, she refused to wear a prison uniform, never wrote a guarantee statement promising to give up the practice of Falun Gong, never signed any interrogation records, and never provided any information of other Falun Gong practitioners to the authorities. Because of this she was subjected to torture. Severely short-sighted, her eye glasses were taken away when she was first sent to the detention center. She was forced to labor for long periods of time and her eyesight deteriorated significantly. The detention center also limited her ability to ask for help from her family for things such as clothes and cash, which caused her life to be difficult due to a shortage of daily necessities in the detention center. She went on a hunger strike to protest the tortures but details of this are not known. Her case is now being appealed to the Shanghai First Intermediate People's Court.

Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Chen Binli from Liaoning Province was illegally detained in Panjin Prison for over two and a half years. Many times he was tortured on a tiger bench and shocked with five electric batons at the same time. The torture he suffered was completely inhumane.

Mr. Chen Binli was illegally arrested while he distributed truth-clarifying materials on October 28, 2003. He was detained in the Fushun Detention Center for nine months, and then detained at the Xinshouru Prison in Shenyang City for one month. On August 6, 2004, he was sent to Panjin Prison. Chen Binli solemnly appealed his detention and treatment, but his appeals received no replies.

At around 7:00 p.m. on August 18, 2004, Chen Binli was forcibly locked in the criminal interrogation room of the First Team. He witnessed a dangerous force-feeding. Liu Deqing, who was detained in the First Team, was handcuffed to a metal bench. Under the command of Zhang Wanfu, the team leader ordered five prisoners to hold Mr. Liu's head, pinch his nose and cover his mouth, then stuff rice cakes and soup into his mouth. There were no medical staff at the scene, nor did they use a special feeding apparatus. It's very easy to suffocate a person this way. However, police guard Zhang Wanfu laughed about it.

The "strict administration class" is in fact the "interrogation room." Metal chairs are placed in the room. The surface of the bench is made of four steel bars as thick as a person's thumb. There is a 10 cm. (4 in.) gap between the steel bars. When sitting on top of the bench with one layer of pants, it is painful. Both feet are strapped down, without the ability to move them at all. Both hands are tied behind the practitioner's back and then the rope is wrapped around the person's chest. It is very cruel to be tied up this way for many days and nights. The First Team uses this tiger bench very often. The person forced to sit the longest time was named Mr. Dong Shiyou. He was continuously forced to sit on the bench, for over 50 days, from April 2006 to May, when he was transferred to Xiongyue Mental Hospital.

Chen Binli was forced to sit on the bench continuously for close to 70 hours, from August 18-21. He was only taken off after he started a hunger strike, and was then transferred to a patient prison. At the time, his hands were swollen and he lost control of his legs. He was also extremely exhausted mentally.

From the night of August 18 to the morning of August 19, Zhang Guolin, the team leader of the First Team, led five police officers holding one electric baton each into Zhang's cell. Without a word five electric batons hit Chen Binli's body at the same time. His body and head could not stop shaking. His face and neck were also shocked. After the vicious torture, he felt like coming back from death.

At about 9:00 p.m., Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Song Zhendong, who is detained in the Sixth Middle Team, asked outside the door why they electrically shock people. Zhang Guolin then asked other guards to drag him inside and handcuff him on the metal bench. Zhang Guolin said with anger, "Who are you to care about this?" Then he continuously slapped Song Zhendong's face and shocked him with electronic batons.

After the police guards shocked both Chen Binli and Song Zhendong, they also handcuffed Song Zhendong and continued torturing him.

Sometime after 8:00 a.m. on August 20, Administration Department Director Wu Fenggang came in with two police officers. They took four electric batons and took turns shocking Chen Binli and Song Zhendong. Wu Fenggang took two electric batons and clamped their necks and started shocking non-stop. He intensely shocked sensitive places like the finger tips, toe tips, ears and neck.

During this time there was someone outside the window shouting: "You're beating people again?" Wu Fenggang commanded some police officers to bring him in and handcuff him on the bench so he could be shocked. The person dragged in was a Falun Gong practitioner detained in the First Team in August. At this time, policeman Zhang Guolin came in. He immediately began to slap his face until his mouth was full of blood. Then Zhang Guolin continued shocking him with electric batons. Zhang Guolin said to him, "You don't have to go to the education class, just sit here." Then he said to Chen Binli, "You will all sit here for at least two weeks."

The three Falun Gong practitioners started hunger strikes to protest the persecution. That same afternoon, Dr. Yu and official Zhang from the medical center of the First Team arrived, claiming they wanted to understand the thoughts of the three hunger strikers. At that time, Mr. Chen Binli stated clearly, "These hunger strikes are to protest the persecution. If the torture does not stop, we will continue the hunger strikes."

On the afternoon of August 21, Mr. Chen Binli was released from the tiger bench and detained in the patient prisoner cell to be force-fed. At that time, Song Zhendong and the other practitioner were still handcuffed. After Chen Binli arrived at the patient prisoner cell, he was force-fed liquid food through a nose tube every day for a month. He got thinner every day.

In May 2005, Chen Binli was again subjected to this kind of torture. At the same time, policeman Zhang Guolin had been on duty for over two months. On May 3, Chen Binli refused to attend the "criminal transformation activities," and so was handcuffed on the tiger bench (at that time the surface of the bench was still metal). Wu Fenggang, three police officers and some guards took four electric batons to shock him. Wu Fenggang was also cursing loudly. At around 8:00 a.m. on May 4, policeman Wu Fenggang arrived again. He shocked Mr. Chen Binli with two electric batons non-stop until they needed to be recharged. He then switched to another two electric batons and continued shocking Chen Binli for over an hour. Chen Binli's head, neck, and legs were covered with blisters. His neck was swollen and he could not even stand straight.

Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Wang Bo was illegally charged with "using x cult to sabotage the administration of law" and sentenced to five years in prison on February 2, 2007. Her father Wang Xinzhong and mother Liu Shuqin were sentenced to four years in prison with the same charge. Wang Bo and her parents refused to accept the illegal verdict. They appealed with the Shijiazhuang Intermediate Court before February 10, 2007, yet they are still waiting for the court to file the case.

Kind-hearted people are asked to please pay attention to this issue and be wary of the wicked Communist regime playing tricks in the dark to escalate the persecution.

According to law, the court usually takes one month or at most one-and-a half months to reach a verdict. Wang Bo and her family's case was tried in the Changan District Court on November 10, 2006. The verdict was not issued until February 2, 2007, nearly three months later.

Wang Xinzhong's lawyer went to the Changan District Court on February 7, 2007, and asked the judge for the verdict according to legal procedures. He also requested access to the case files. Preliminary Court judge Yue Yunzhi admitted that the verdict was delivered to the Wang Bo's family on February 2, 2007. He also admitted that the family's statement of appeal had been delivered to the intermediate court, but their case files were not yet transferred. The allotted period for an appeal is within ten days from the receipt of a verdict. The judge refused to give Wang Xinzhong's lawyer a copy of the verdict and also refused to let the lawyer read the case files. The lawyer cited the law, and the first court head Wang Xu couldn't refute him. Wang Xu threatened to report the case files to the Court Audit Committee, obstructing the lawyer to learn the situation of the case. As early as before the trial commenced, court head Wang Xu, who sat in the audience, announced the court regulations to ask everyone to turn off their mobile phones, while he answered calls on his mobile phone inside the courtroom. Wang Xu sometimes ran up to the judge during the trial and whispered into his ears, and sometimes talked to the public prosecutor. He also signaled the court police with his eyes and yelled at Wang Bo and her family.

Wang Bo's relatives went to the Shijiazhuang Intermediate Court on February 12, 2007, and inquired if the appeal was received. They saw judge Sun from the Secondary Trial Court and said they haven't received it. He said they would have to deal with it after the Chinese New Year as it was close to the holidays. Sun also assured the family that the Changan District Court would never dare to withhold their appeal, otherwise it would be held legally responsible.

The relatives went back to the intermediate court on February 27, 2007, the third day after court officials returned to work. They again inquired whether the appeal has been received and again met with judge Sun. He claimed the Changan District Court had reported the appeal before the Chinese New Year, but since it was getting close to the holidays, the intermediate court didn't accept the case and returned it. The relatives explained that they were concerned about Wang Bo and her family's mental attitude after being wrongly sentenced to prison. Judge Sun said he understood the issue. He said, "This is the current policy [on handling Falun Gong]. There is nothing we can do." The relatives said, "Then you know that Wang Bo and her family's sentencing was based on 'policies' and not the law. They are completely innocent." Upon hearing these words, several judges inside the office were startled and said together, "Don't say that! It won't help you and it won't help us!" Obviously, the judges were under great pressure from high above.

It is said that the court had issued the verdict because the Communist regime deems Wang Bo and her family's case might have great impact. That is why before the verdict was issued by Changan District Court, Changan District Court officials had first reported to officials at the Shijiazhuang City Intermediate Court, who in turn reported to authorities at the Hebei Province High Court to get approval.