Ten years into a brutal persecutory campaign, it is not uncommon for multiple members of a single family to have been killed, tortured, or imprisoned. Mr. Li Min died at the age of 51, after being tortured and denied medical care at Daqing Prison. In 2007, Li's brother-in-law died in custody at a labor camp after being tortured. Li's wife is currently imprisoned in Harbin Women's Prison.
70-year-old Ms. Wu Shenghua was arrested June 8th and dead by June 16th.
Mr. Zhou Jingcheng, who worked at the Renminnanlu Feed Factory in Ningxiang County, Hunan Province, has been persecuted a total of ten times due to his belief in Falun Gong. He was illegally sentenced to prison, sent to a labor camp twice, and detained seven times. He has been tortured during these imprisonments. He is currently detained in Wangling Prison in You County, Hunan Province.
A Falun Gong practitioner imprisoned in Harbin's Daqing Prison died on May 23, 2009 due to abuse in custody, the Falun Dafa Information Center recently learned. Mr. Li Min died at the age of 51, after being tortured and denied medical care when he suffered the symptoms of a stroke.
Li is just one of several family members who have been victims of severe rights abuses at the hands of the Chinese authorities because of their identity as Falun Gong practitioners. In 2007, Li's brother-in-law died in custody at a labor camp after being tortured. Li's wife is currently imprisoned in Harbin's Women's Prison and at risk of abuse.
"Falun Gong spread in the 1990s primarily by word of mouth as people saw their relatives and friends' health and outlook on life improve. So it was not uncommon for multiple members of one family to take up the practice," says Falun Gong spokesperson Erping Zhang. "But that's also why - ten years into a brutal persecutory campaign - it is not uncommon for multiple members of a single family to have been killed, tortured, or imprisoned."
"The story of Li Min and his family is not an exceptional case. Rather, it is a microcosm of the way in which the CCP's campaign against Falun Gong has targeted one of the most fundamental units of Chinese society, making forced separation, torture, and death a daily reality for millions of families across China."
A Father's Death
Li Min, who began practicing Falun Gong in 1998, was arrested from his workplace - the Finance Bureau of Harbin's Hulan District - in March 2005. He was subsequently sentenced to eight years in prison for practicing Falun Gong. He was sent to the 7th ward of Daqing prison where, according to sources inside China, he was tortured by guards and his health deteriorated dramatically, causing him to suffer the symptoms of a stroke.
When his son visited him during the Chinese New Year in February 2009, Li was unable to walk on his own, but rather had to be carried into the visitation room. He also had difficulty breathing and talking. Despite his weak condition and his family's appeals in April 2009 for him to be released on medical parole, the prison authorities insisted on keeping him in custody.
In mid-May 2009, Li was transferred to Daqing Hospital. He passed away at 8pm on May 23 at the age of 51. His death brings the total number of adherents known to have died as a result of persecution to 3,287. It also reinforces Heilongjiang's infamous record as the deadliest province for Falun Gong practitioners - 411 adherents are documented to have died there from abuse since 1999 - as well as Daqing prison's notoriety as a venue for systematic and brutal torture (for previous cases of abuse and death at the prison see: report).
Li's wife Du Xiuzhi remains in custody at Harbin Women's Prison. She was arrested from their home on the same day as him in 2005 and later sentenced to eight year's in prison, also for practicing Falun Gong. It is unknown whether she is aware of her husband's death.
Death, Torture a Family Affair
Li is not the first in the family to have died as a result of abuse in custody. His brother-in-law Yu Huaicai, also from Hulan District in Harbin, died on April 22, 2007. Yu was arrested on November 15, 2006 and sentenced without trial to one year at Changlinzi "re-education through labor" camp. In February 2007, he went on hunger strike to protest his unjust incarceration.
Guards at the camp are reported to have brutally force-fed him - an act commonly used as a form of torture against adherents rather than as a medical procedure - causing non-stop bleeding from his mouth and nose. Though his life was in danger, the camp director refused to release him. His family members saw him at the labor camp four days before his death, at which time he was unable to speak. Yu, who was over six feet tall, died at the age of 42, weighing only 100 lbs.
Ms. Wu Shenghua Dies after Brutal Mistreatment
Ms. Wu Shenghua, who was in her seventies, lived in the Shengbei Community of the Shengli Oil Field in Shandong Province. On June 8, 2009, she was reported to police while giving someone materials about the truth of Falun Gong. Later she was arrested at her home by officer Dong Ning and others from the Domestic Security Team of Binbei Police Department. The police ransacked her home and damaged some furniture.
After being tortured for three days, Ms. Wu developed high blood pressure and heart disease. In fear of being responsible for her life, the police released her after extorting money from her family. She died on June 16, 2009.
Mr. Zhou Jingcheng Detained, Forced into Labor Camps and Sentenced Ten Times
Mr. Zhou Jingcheng, who works at the Renminnanlu
Feed Factory in Ningxiang County, Hunan Province, has been persecuted a total of
ten times due to his belief in Falun Gong and for trying to be a good person by
following the principle of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. He was directly
persecuted by Liu Ziqiang from the county 610
Office, along with Hu Jianxin, Liao Wenjian, Cai Mouliang, Zhou Youliang,
Xie Pinghui, Zeng Ninghan and others from the county Domestic Security Team.
Mr. Zhou was illegally sentenced to prison, sent to a labor camp twice, detained
seven times and forced to undergo a variety of tortures. He is currently
detained in Wangling Prison in You County, Hunan Province.
Since 1999, Mr. Zhou Jingcheng has spent the majority of his time in jails, and almost 60,000 yuan has been extorted from his family. Mr. Zhou is now imprisoned and being tortured again, and his family is being harassed and threatened.
In 2003, Mr. Zhou was beaten for five days and nights by officers from the Domestic Security Team of Meijiatian, Yutan Town and Baimaqiao Police Stations. They also handcuffed his hands behind his back and suspended him from the handcuffs tied to window bars for over twenty hours. Other torture methods include sleep deprivation and stripping him, then dousing him with water and turning on a fan to chill him during the winter.
At the Xinkaipu Forced Labor Camp, Mr. Zhou was beaten until his entire body was purple-black with bruises. He sustained an injury to his eyebrow which required five stitches. He was forced to wear a straitjacket, locked in a bathroom, and his hands were tied behind his back for a long time, until they were numb and insensitive.
In January 2006, under orders from the county 610 Office, numerous plainclothes officers arrested Mr. Zhou in public at a raw materials wholesale market at the train station. They dragged him into the car, and took him to Jin City for detainment with three people kicking him throughout the journey. After six of his teeth were broken out by the brutal beating, Mr. Zhou was taken to the You County Prison.
The guards didn't let him sleep for six days and nights. They shocked him with electric batons for over an hour, forced him to stand, didn't let him use the bathroom, smeared liquid menthol over his eyes, beat him with rubber clubs, and stuck mat grass into his nostrils until they bled. In the winter, Mr. Zhou was sprayed with water, his ribs were broken from beatings, his ear became deformed from being bit, and the ligaments in his legs were injured after the guards forced his legs open at 180 degrees.
Mr. Zhou was handcuffed to a bed for ten days, and he was tied to a bed with cloth rope for almost three months. He was force-fed with a rubber tube forced down his throat to his stomach for over 500 days. The guards ordered other inmates to beat and kick Mr. Zhou over a long period of time. Mr. Zhou was subjected to countless kinds of torture.
Over the years, almost 60,000 yuan was extorted from Mr. Zhou, the majority done without receipts. The You County Prison Instruction Department director, surnamed Wu, took 4000 yuan from Mr. Zhou's family. When Mr. Zhou tried to sue him for the money, he was persecuted instead. A Batang Town 610 Office employee surnamed Tang, along with police officers often harassed him and ransacked his home, causing severe damage to Mr. Zhou's family. His mother, who is over 70 years old, developed depression and died in grief. The You County Prison didn't even allow Mr. Zhou to see his mother for one last time.
Mr. Zhou Jingcheng was tortured to the brink of death at Wangling Prison. He was released on October 30, 2007, when the 610 Office and related authorities were afraid to face the responsibility for his mistreatment. However, the stick-thin Mr. Zhou still had no peace. The county 610 Office ordered the local Batang Town Police Station to harass and threaten Mr. Zhou at home. In January 2008, Mr. Zhou was forced to leave home to avoid further persecution. This did not end their persecution, as instead it was extended to his family.
Liu Shiqiang, head of the 610 Office, went to Batang Town personally to oversee the persecution. They summoned Mr. Zhou's brother, Mr. Zhou Jingliang, sister Ms. Zhou Xianglian, wife Ms. Huang Caijun, and cousin Mr. Zhao Shenghua, to threaten them, in search of Mr. Zhou Jingcheng. In mid-March 2008, Jiang Jiehua, the 610 Office assistant director, along with Zeng Ninghan, the captain of the Domestic Security Team, threatened the family members that they must find Mr. Zhou before April 5, 2008. If not, they would suspend Ms. Zhou Xianglian (a professor at Changsha University) from teaching, close down the feed factory owned by his brother-in-law, Mr. Huang Shucheng, and force Zhou Yuhang (who was studying at the medical school of the Normal University of Hunan Province and already found a job) to be unable to work. The authorities also threatened that they would comb the grounds, going as far as digging three feet into the ground, to search for Mr. Zhou Jingcheng.
In 2008 before the Olympics, the Chinese Communist Party made widespread arrests of Falun Gong practitioners. In July 2008, Mr. Zhou was arrested in Yiyang District, Hunan Province. After torturing him, the Ningxiang County 610 Office and the Domestic Security Team secretly imprisoned him at Wangling Prison in You County, Zhuzhou City.