Ms. Gao Qiying had been abducted in 2008 before the arrival of the Olympic torch in her town. She died in custody on February 12, 2010 within weeks of complaining to her family that prison authorities had injected her with an unknown drug.
Mr. Sun has been tortured to the point of having broken bones.
FDI Report: Guizhou Falun Gong Practitioner Killed in Custody on Eve of Chinese New Year
NEW
YORK--As families across China prepared to celebrate the Chinese New
Year, the relatives of Ms. Gao Qiying were coping with the sudden death
of the 40-year-old photographer.
Gao, a Falun Gong
practitioner from Guizhou, had been abducted in 2008 before the arrival
of the Olympic torch in her town. She died in custody on February 12,
2010, two days before the holiday and within weeks of complaining to
her family that prison authorities had injected her with an unknown
drug. Gao is the 10th Falun Gong practitioner whose death from abuse
the Falun Dafa Information Center has confirmed in 2010, though the
actual toll is almost certainly higher.
"Sadly, Ms. Gao's case contains two aspects that are all too common among the cases of Falun Gong practitioners in China," says Falun Dafa Information spokesperson Erping Zhang. "One is the use of unknown drugs to mentally and/or physically incapacitate practitioners in an effort to force them to renounce their beliefs, and the second is the use of 'Olympic security' as an excuse to illegal abduct Falun Gong practitioners. There are many cases where both of these unfortunate aspects are present."
Ms. Gao was a resident of Zunyi in Guizhou, where she worked photographing tourists in order to provide for her two sons and their education. She had been born with a physical disability to her back and chest, which caused her difficulty walking and breathing. Her health improved dramatically after she began practicing Falun Gong in 2000.
The
Olympic torch was scheduled to arrive in Zunyi on June 14, 2008. As
occurred in many parts of the country, security agencies intensified
the monitoring and persecution of local residents known to practice
Falun Gong ahead of the international event. One police station in
Zunyi's Huichuan District alone reportedly detained at least ten Falun
Gong adherents.
On June 12, dozens of officers raided Ms.
Gao's home, abducting her and confiscating the computer and printer she
used for her photography business. Ms. Gao was taken to Nanbai Town
Detention Center, where she was reportedly tortured. She was
subsequently hospitalized in critical condition.
Ms. Gao
eventually recovered, but was then “sentenced” in a sham trial in late
2008 to a prison camp. She was transferred to Yangai prison to serve
her term.
At the end of January, 2010, Ms. Gao's family
members visited her at the prison. During the visit, she complained
that the prison authorities had forced her to take an unknown drug that
was causing severe numbness in her feet.
On February 11,
the prison authorities called Ms. Gao's family to inform them that she
was being taken to a police hospital in Guiyang, over two hours away.
She died at 12:55pm the next day, while her family was still en route.
Additional details of the circumstances surrounding her death are being
investigated.
Psychiatric torture--both in medical and penal
facilities--is a routine tactic used by the Chinese authorities against
Falun Gong practitioners in an effort to force them to renounced their
belief. The Falun Dafa Information Center reported a similar case from
Hunan in September. Ms. Chen Chunjun, also 40 years old, had been
detained in May 2008 when the Olympic Torch was to pass through her
area; she died in March 2009 at a psychiatric hospital. (news)
Name: Mr. Sun Zongxu
Gender: Male
Age: 62
Address: Nansun Township, Hantin District, Weifang City
Date of Most Recent Arrest: December 19, 2009
Most Recent Place of Detention: An'qiu Detention Center
City: An'qiu City
Province: Shandong Province
Persecution Suffered: Electric shock, beatings, torture, physical restraint, home ransacked, detention
Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Sun Zongxu is a former Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) committee member from Hantin District, Weifang City. He was illegally arrested by police in December 2009. The police tried to extort a confession using torture for several consecutive days, resulting in broken bones in Mr. Sun's lower body. He has been formally charged and detained at An'qiu Detention Center.
One day in July 2000, at around 11:00 p.m., the district government and the police mobilized thirty to forty officers to surround Sun Zongxu's home. The police took Mr. Sun away, then ransacked and illegally searched his home.
At the time, the street was full of police cars, and many villagers were watching on the streets. Afterwards, people exclaimed, "Such a good person was arrested. Being a good person in today's world is not popular. The bad people control everything, and good people suffer."
Mr. Sun Zongxu was taken to a detention center. He was tied to "dead man's bed,"on which his limbs were tied in four directions. After he was taken down from the "dead man's bed," he was handcuffed and put in shackles for thirty days. Mr. Sun was tortured like this day and night, until he could no longer stand up or take care of himself. It took four people to carry him to the restroom.
After Mr. Sun Zongxu was released, he was under constant police surveillance. He became homeless in order to avoid being illegally arrested at home.
On the afternoon of December 19, 2009, Sun Zongxu was followed by Weifang City Police, then arrested at An'qiu. The police tortured him for several days, used several electric batons to shock him, and beat him with rubber batons. Over a dozen officers beat Mr. Sun while he was tied to a chair. As a result, bones in his lower body were broken, and because he was in critical condition, he was sent to An'qiu Hospital. The local CCP's judiciary system recently issued an official arrest warrant.