BEIJING, Oct 10, 2000 -- (Agence France Presse) Guards in a northeast Chinese labor camp organized the beating to death of a follower of the banned Falun Gong spiritual group, relatives and Falun Gong sources charged Tuesday.

Wang Bin, 44, was severely beaten after he refused to write a confession retracting his belief in the group's teachings, a Falun Gong follower in Daqing city, Heilongjiang province told AFP.

Prison guards at the Dongfeng Reform Through Labor Camp in Daqing ordered other prisoners to beat Wang and two other Falun Gong followers after they refused to sign written retractions of their beliefs, she said.

Wang's beating was so severe he was finally sent to a local hospital where he died on October 6, she said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Relatives at Wang's home in Daqing confirmed that Wang had died, but refused to comment on the case, other than to say that Wang's wife had not returned home for several days.

After consultations with lawyers, Wang's family was seeking CNY 500,000 (USD 60,000) in compensation for Wang's death, the Falun Gong follower said, but refused to link the case to the disappearance of Wang's wife.

The Dongfeng Reform Through Labor Camp already had an impressive record of getting Falun Gong followers to recant their beliefs, she said, a record that had been praised by Chinese leaders.

This summer China set up two labor camps to hold the hardened Falun Gong followers, in a further sign of the government's concern over the spiritual group, the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said earlier.

Wang's death marked the 53rd documented Falun Gong death in police custody since the central government banned the group in July 1999.

Members of the group who follow the Buddhist-inspired teachings of their exiled [teacher] Li Hongzhi, believe the number of deaths could be far greater.

China's Communist government has called the group the biggest threat to its one party rule since the 1989 Tiananmen democracy protests.

Since the banning, some 450 members have received prison sentences of up to 18 years, more than 600 have been sent to mental hospitals, 10,000 have been placed in labor camps and another 20,000 locked up in temporary detention centers, the rights center said. ((c) 2000 Agence France Presse)