(Clearwisdom.net May 11, 2003 report) Mr. Shi Zhongyan, 45 years old, lived in Anleli community of Linghe District in Jinzhou City, Liaoning Province. He used to be an employee at the Jinzhou Department Store.
Mr. Shi Zhongyan was a very careful and diligent worker. Everyone who knew him praised him as a good person. However, even though he was a good man, he was arrested on false charges, and sent to the Jinzhou City Forced Labor Camp. The torture, both physical and mental, Jinzhou resulted in his death.
Mr. Shi Zhongyan started practicing Falun Gong in 1995. In April 25, 1999, in order to help the central government understand the truth about Falun Gong, Mr. Shi went to the Appeals Office of the State Department to appeal.
After July 20, 1999, when Jiang's regime started slandering Falun Gong, Mr. Shi continued his appeals. On October 29, 1999, Mr. Shi went to Beijing again to appeal for Falun Gong. The Jinzhou City Police Department arrested him and detained him at the city detention center. They transferred him to the Jinzhou City Railway Detention Center on November 14. After 56 days in detention, the Linghe District Political and Legislative Committee extorted 2000 Yuan* from his family for his release on December 26. While he was in the Detention Center, his work unit discharged him as a form of punishment, with a one-year probation. They moved him to a janitorial position that paid at only 150 Yuan per month. After all kinds of deductions from his pay, he receive very little money.
On June 20, 2002, he went to Beijing to appeal again. On June 21, the Beijing police arrested him at Tiananmen Square. That same day, the Linghe District Police Station and the Ling'an Police Substation in Jinzhou City ransacked his home. They escorted Mr. Shi back to Jiangzhou from Beijing, and detained him at the 2nd Detention Center of Jinzhou City. Mr. Shi never yielded despite all kinds of pressure and threats. On July 27, 2000, they sent him to the Jinzhou City Forced Labor Camp for further persecution.
In the Jinzhou City Forced Labor Camp, they assigned him to the unit for newcomers. Because he practiced the exercises in the camp, on August 1, 2002, they assigned him to unit No. 5, where he was forced to do heavy labor, digging trenches. He was forced to work 12 hours a day and sometimes even 20 hours a day, with no breaks for holidays. After work, he was forced to go through brainwashing sessions. The police and the other prisoners often cursed and beat him. They beat him so severely that they broke his eardrum, almost causing permanent hearing loss; they broke his teeth; and the criminal prisoners rode on top of his back to humiliate him. He went on hunger strike to protest. The Director of the labor camp, Zhang Haiping, told his family that he was not aware of any beatings, and promised his family that they would not hurt him. However, after making this promise, the persecution became even more vicious. On October 2, 2000, in order to resist the persecution, Mr. Shi refused to do any labor. The labor camp, as a form of punishment, forced him to sit on a bench in a fixed position (his hands on top of his knees with his knees close together and with his back straight) from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. every day. They would not allow him to move or speak. They forced him to listen to a tape slandering Dafa. The guards watched him 24 hours a day. He was only allowed to go to the toilet three times a day. He was also deprived of the right to see his wife, since she was also a Dafa practitioner. Only other family members were allowed to visit. The police always monitored the family visit to make sure he didn't tell anyone about how he was persecuted.
During April and May of 2001, he refused to wear the vest that prisoners were required to wear, and he refused to sit on the bench, so they shocked him with electric batons for long periods of time. Then they sent him to the intensive monitoring unit. He went on hunger strike for over 20 days while being handcuffed to a metal chair and force-fed through tubes inserted into his nose.
By June 21, 2002, Mr. Shi Zhongyan had been persecuted for two years. Because
he refused to give up his belief, they extended his term, over and over again.
During the additional terms, the police persecuted him more madly. In order to
achieve their goal, the police wouldn't let him sleep for 7 consecutive days and
nights. As soon as he closed his eyes, they shocked him with electric batons or
slapped his face. They also forced him to sit on the "tiger bench," a
brutal torture device (For a detailed description of this and other forms of
torture used in forced labor camps, see
In January 2003, they illegally prolonged his term again, because he still refused to give up his belief and because the brainwashing had not worked. After that, he was not allowed to see his family at all. His family reported that he was already very weak. On April 21, 2003, the day that he was supposed to be released, his family went to the camp to pick him up. The camp refused to release him, giving the excuse that his term had to be extended for another 20 days.
Around 6:30 a.m. on April 25, 2003, Mr. Shi's family received a phone call from the labor camp saying Mr. Shi was in a coma at the No. 205 Military Hospital. When his family got there, Mr. Shi was unconscious. He was so emaciated that his body looked like only skin and bones. He was lying in bed with his eyes wide open. His pupils were already dilated and he was relying on a respirator and pacemaker to stay alive. The family questioned the police, and the police admitted that Mr. Shi had been on hunger strike and they had force-fed him. They also admitted that Mr. Shi was sent to the hospital on the evening of April 24.
At 1:40 a.m. on April 26, 2003, Mr. Shi passed away. After his death, at his family's request, the labor camp put clothes on Mr. Shi's body. They took his body away in a hurry. When the family followed them out, they could not find the people who took his body. According to an eyewitness, the vehicle from the crematorium was already waiting outside. The police rushed the body to the crematorium. The death certificate from the No. 205 Military Hospital, issued on April 25, said "normal death" from diseases.
Since his family believed that Mr. Shi Zhongyan died unjustly, they decided to sue the labor camp to obtain justice. The attorney who took the case stated that he would like to help the family seek justice. When the family requested an autopsy of the body, the camp agreed, but would only allow Mr. Shi's wife and child to be there. The attorney was not allowed to attend and the doctor was appointed by the City Police Department. All those arrangements were against normal procedure. When the family went to the No. 205 Military Hospital for a photocopy of the medical documents, the doctors there said that the labor camp instructed them not to give the documents to the family. When the family went to talk to the labor camp, the police told the family that the reason they would not give them any copies was that they were afraid that the family would post the documents on the Internet.
Without any medical documents, they could go no further. Two attorneys from the Jinzhou City Justice Department came to talk to the defense lawyer privately. Soon after, the defense lawyer told the family that he could no longer take their case. He told the family, "There are orders from higher authorities that you will not be able to win this case in Jinzhou City. You might try it at the provincial level." The suit for justice thus came to an end.
On April 30,2003, the police forcibly cremated Mr. Shi Zhongyan's body without any signatures from his family. They did not even give the family the remains.
Another good person has been lost, while police responsible remain free. However, we believe that those who commit evil deeds will eventually receive due justice.
*Yuan is the Chinese currency. The average monthly salary of an urban worker in China is 500 Yuan.