According to The Associated Press (Feb 28, 2000), As the U.N. human
rights chief prepares to visit Beijing, a rights group reported Monday that
police had beaten to death a member of the Falun Gong spiritual group.
The group also said the parents of two jailed activists had asked China' s
leaders to release their daughters.
Chen was at least the 11th Falun Gong practitioner to die while in police
custody, either from mistreatment or hunger striking, since the ban in July, the
group said.
Authorities in the eastern city of Weihai detained Chen Feb. 17, accusing
the 60-year-old of heading to Beijing to join protests, and they demanded a $120
fine her family could not pay, the center said. On Feb. 20, a fellow detainee
told her family that Chen was being beaten, and the next day, police notified
them she was dead, it said.
" The body the relatives saw was too horrible to look at. It was
covered in purple and black bruises, the ears, nose and mouth had blood stains
and the teeth were broken,> "> the center said.
Police prevented the family from videotaping the corpse, and lawyers
approached by relatives who wanted to sue refused to take the case, saying the
government would never approve, the center reported.
Police officials in Weifang said they knew nothing about the case. The
State Council, the cabinet, declined comment, but in the past has denied that
Falun Gong members have died from police abuse.
Reuters also reported on Feb 28 2000 5:48AM ET that Falun Gong member dies
after China beatings.
A 60-year-old member of the banned spiritual movement Falun Gong died
after beatings by Chinese police, a human rights group said on Monday in a
report issued days before the U.N. rights chief is to visit China.
The Hong Kong-based Information Centre of Human Rights & Democratic Movement
in China said Chen Zixiu died from police beatings sustained after she was
detained by police in Weifang in the eastern province of Shandong for failing to
pay a fine.
The centre said family members called by police to fetch her body on February 21
-- four days after her detention-found it covered with bruises, the teeth broken
and blood coming out of the ears.
While Chen was kept in a government-run " Falun Gong re-conversion
camp " police demanded her daughter pay a fine of 1,000 yuan ($120,
$1 is about 8.278 Yuan) -- a sum Chen couldn 't raise because she had already
paid a 5,000 yuan fine, the centre said.
Police in Weifang could not be reached for comment.
The Hong Kong-based centre said Chen> '> s death brings to 11 the
number of Falun Gong adherents who have died from beatings or hunger strikes in
custody
The centre urged U.N. rights chief Mary Robinson, who will visit Beijing
on March 1-2 and meet Chinese leaders, to "frankly criticize these
extremely grave violations of human rights in the handling of the Falun Gong
issue. "
(2/29/00)