Chinese name:
周述海
Gender:
Male
Age:
35
City:
Province:
Heilongjiang
Occupation:
Government Policy Research Institute in Yichun City, Heilongjiang Province
Date of Death:
2007-05-31
Date of Most Recent Arrest:
2005-10-29
Most recent place of detention:
No. 4 section of Daqing Prison
Case Description:
Mr. Zhou Shuhai, 35, was from Tieli City, Heilongjiang Province. He worked in the Government Policy Research Institute in Yichun City, Heilongjiang Province. On October 29, 2005, police officers from Tieli City, including Zheng Hongde and Sun Xu, and officers from the Tieli City 610 Office, including Fan Guangjun and Chen Tie, arrested Zhou Shuhai and his older brother, Zhou Shuzhang. On April 1, 2006, the Chinese Communist Party's Mid-Level Court in Yichun City illegally sentenced Mr. Zhou to five-and-a-half years in prison. In July 2006, he was transferred to the No. 4 section of Daqing Prison. As a result of the ongoing physical and psychological tortures, Mr. Zhou lost weight rapidly and had difficulty eating. When his family visited him in prison, he had to be carried to the visitors' room on the back of another prisoner. He was skin and bones and could barely speak. On May 31, 2007, Mr. Zhou was taken to Daqing City No. 2 Hospital for "emergency resuscitation," but he had already died by the time he reached the hospital. The prison authorities claimed that he died of tuberculosis. Mr. Zhou went on hunger strikes repeatedly in prison, as a non-violent way of protest.