BEIJING, Dec 7, 2000 -- (Agence France Presse)

Two more followers of the Falun Gong spiritual movement have died after maltreatment in Chinese police detention, a human rights group said Thursday. The deaths bring to at least 74 the number of group members who are reported to have died in suspicious circumstances while in police custody since the Falun Gong was banned in July last year, according to the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy.

Wang Huachen, 32, a worker at the Jinhua Group in the city of Huludao in the northeastern province of Liaoning, jumped from a fourth story window at a public security office on November 18 and later died in hospital, the center said.Wang had been repeatedly beaten since being arrested on November 7 for his beliefs in the spiritual group in an effort to make him sign a written recantation of his belief in the spiritual group, the center said. An official at the Jinhua Group confirmed to AFP that Wang had died, but was unaware of the circumstances of his death.

In another incident, Zhao Jing, 19, from Jilin in the northeastern province of Jilin, died after jumping from a police car in Hebei province, the center said. She had been arrested along with several other Falun Gong members while traveling to Beijing. Travelling companions told the center that Zhao only appeared to be slightly injured after she jumped from the car, but after the group was taken to a local police station in Hebei, the group heard Zhao's screams and police beating her in an adjoining room.

Zhao's arrest and attempted escape occurred on November 23, while police told her family on November 26 that she died from serious injuries while jumping from the police car, the center said. Relatives who saw her body said Zhao appeared to have been beaten, while police cremated the corpse before Zhao's father could view his daughter for the last time, the center said. A spokesman with the Public Security Bureau of Jilin city denied to AFP that the case of Zhao Jing existed.

China's communist government sees the Falun Gong as the biggest threat to its one-party rule since the 1989 Tiananmen democracy protests and banned the movement in July 1999. Members of the spiritual group follow the Buddhist-inspired teachings of their exiled guru Li Hongzhi, who advocates clean living and group morning exercises that involve traditional Chinese breathing routines.

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, according to the rights center.

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