Kang Ruizhu

Chinese Name: 康瑞竹
Gender: Female
Age: 52
City: Pingshan County
Province: Hebei
Occupation: Pingshan County Fertilizer Factory
Date of Death: 2002-10-27
Date of Most Recent Arrest:
Most recent place of detention: Huishe Township Government
Case Description:

Ms. Kang Ruizhu, 52, was formerly employed at the Pingshan Fertilizer Factory. She went to Beijing to appeal on April 25 and July 20, 1999 and was later charged a fine by the Pingshan Police Station and detained in a cell on the 3rd floor of the Police Station. During the 2000 Spring Festival, she went to Beijing to appeal and was illegally detained once again. Later on, her workplace expelled her. In May 2000, because she was reported to the local police station for distributing truth-clarifying materials, she was illegally arrested and sentenced to a labor camp. But upon her arrival at the Shijiazhuang Labor Camp, the labor camp refused to detain her. She was then released.

In August 2000, local police officers captured her and forced her into the Pingshan Brainwashing Session. There, she was handcuffed to a tree for an entire week. Using her righteous thoughts, she was finally able to escape from the session. Later, because of the police's continued unwarranted detention and harassment, she was forced to leave home and became homeless in order to avoid any further persecution.

On October 25, 2002, she was captured while traveling and detained in the office building of the Huishe Township Government. In order to resist the unjust and illegal detention, Kang started a hunger strike. The local police station claimed, "Even if we beat you to death, it will be reported as a suicide. No matter how you die, we will claim that you committed suicide. These are the direct orders from the high-level government."

On October 27, 2002, from the police station came the news that Kang had died.