[Chongqing] Three Falun Gong Practitioners Persecuted to Death

1. Ms. Li Guihua, 47, Jiangbei District of Chongqing City. In October 1999, she went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. She was arrested a few weeks later. She died in the Chongqing Liaison Office in Beijing. The police asked her husband to go to Beijing to have her body cremated. Her husband took a picture on Tiananmen Square whiling holding the cinerary casket. The police warned her husband that he should not disclose the news of Ms. Li's death. So it was unclear how Ms. Li died.

2. Ms. Xia Wei, 43, Jiangbei District of Chongqing City. In September 1999, she went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong, and she was arrested at the beginning of November 1999. She fell and died while trying to escape from the Chongqing Liaison Office in Beijing through the window. The police warned her husband that he should not disclose the news of the death of Ms. Xia.

3. There was another practitioner who died in the same way as Ms. Xia. She was from Changshou County of Chongqing City.

[Guangzhou]

The 29 Falun Gong practitioners detained in the "transformation and study class" in Liwan District of Guangzhou City have been released on July 28, 2000. Those who practiced Falun Gong exercises in the "study class" were given criminal detention.

Each of the practitioners who were forced to attend the "study class" was demanded 13 Yuan per day for the expense of food. The practitioners who were forced to attend the "study class" in Liwan District were detained in a military base from July 15 to July 30, 2000. They were forced to undergo morning military training, to watch the VCD and other materials that slandered Falun Gong. Each of them were demanded 1000 Yuan as the fee for attending the class.

In Haizhu District of Guangzhou City, most of the detained practitioners have been freed. But there are still some practitioners whose whereabouts are unknown. The practitioners pointed out to the staff members of the "study class" that the detention was illegal. But the staff members said: "To protect the national security, all the illegal activities are legal."

Some of those practitioners who were arrested for practicing Falun Gong exercises in public area on June 18, 2000 have not been released because they refused to reveal their names and addresses. The police tortured them by electric shocks, locking them in dark cells, spraying on them the spicy pepper water, and force-feeding them through nose.

[Guanzhou]

Practitioner Zhuo Yue was sentenced to three years in labor camp for going to Beijing twice to appeal for Falun Gong.

[Nanhai, Guandong Province]

Practitioner Chen Yan was detained for 15 days last year for going to Beijing to appeal. Later, she was detained for another 20 days for hosting a fellow practitioner.

This year, she served 30 days of criminal detention for joining the group practice of Falun Gong exercises in Nanhai City. On June 18, 2000, she again joined the group practice in Guangzhou, and as a consequence, she was sentenced to three years in labor camp without going through any legal procedures.