(Minghui.org) Less than a year after Mr. Ye Fenglin was arrested for his faith in Falun Gong, he died on June 27, 2002, at the age of 44, while serving a 2.5-year labor camp term. Nineteen years have now passed since his tragic death, but his family is still being kept in the dark about what happened to him in his final days.
Two years ago, a friend of his family came across his autopsy report and realized that the Bijie City, Guizhou Province resident had died from force feeding, despite the labor camp claiming that his death was caused by acute tuberculosis and respiratory failure.
Mr. Ye’s family was visited by Ge Junlan, a labor camp director, and Lu Yongliang of the Sanqiao Police Station at around 10:00 p.m. on June 27, 2002, and asked to go with them to the Zhongba Forced Labor Camp.
His wife asked them what had happened. The officers refused to reveal anything and said “you will know after you get there.” Upon arrival, she was told that Mr. Ye had died of an acute disease at 7:00 a.m. that day.
Mr. Ye’s family was then taken to the Qingshanyuan Funeral Home. By that time, the funeral home’s staff members had already put cosmetics on Mr. Ye and dressed him up. His family was unable to tell whether he had any injuries on his body. On the wall, was a label that said “anonymous corpse.”
The labor camp initially didn’t agree to an autopsy of Mr. Ye. But they relented due to his family’s persistent requests.
The autopsy was performed in the funeral home on the afternoon of June 29 by forensic doctors Wang Jie, Wang Lei, and Huang Yingkang, of the Department of Forensic Medicine at Guiyang Medical College, and Zhang Qinghua and Chen Xiang, from the Forensic Technology Office at the Public Security Bureau of Qingzhen City.
During the autopsy, it was found that one of Mr. Ye’s ribs was broken. There was a large area of bruising on his abdomen near his liver. His intestines were very clean and had no leftover food.
None of the labor camp directors or doctors attended the autopsy or made themselves available to answer questions. Only two young doctors and a few guards who didn’t have any knowledge about Mr. Ye’s case were sent to the funeral home. When asked about the broken rib and bruise by his family, these officers said it was caused by resuscitation at the hospital.
Mr. Ye’s family also demanded to see the clothing he was wearing when he died, but a guard said that the clothes had been discarded and it was out of humanism that they put new clothes and cosmetics on him.
In the final autopsy report that was issued ten days later on July 9, the forensic doctors concluded that Mr. Ye died of acute haematogenous disseminated tuberculosis, which caused systemic toxicity in his body and respiratory failure.
With no medical background, Mr. Ye’s family didn’t carefully read the report. They believed that he was beaten to death, and that the tuberculosis was an excuse used by the authorities to cover up the beating.
Around 2019, a doctor friend of the family got a chance to read the autopsy report. He was shocked to read the line that said “In the main bronchial lumen, it was filled with liquid and food residue.” After discussing the case with a few other medical professionals, he determined that Mr. Ye died of force feeding.
The report also added that “a large amount of gastric contents accumulated in the larynx, epiglottis, and esophagus” and “the food in the stomach was half-digested and looked normal.”
Mr. Ye’s friend said that the above lines from the report implied that the residue discovered in his main bronchial lumen, larynx, epiglottis, esophagus and stomach was the same. Under normal circumstance, it was simply impossible for food to stay in his larynx, epiglottis, and esophagus, as it would quickly block his breathing. The fact that even his main bronchial lumen was filled with food meant that his entire respiratory system was completely blocked.
Mr. Ye’s medical record provided by the labor camp said that he had refused to take medicine on June 24, 2002. His friend also suspected that the guards may have mixed the drug with food and attempted to force feed him. If he refused to swallow the food, it could explain why food remained in his larynx, epiglottis, and esophagus. It was also possible that the guards inserted the feeding tube into his bronchial tube, which was next to the esophagus, and then filled his bronchial tubes with the food.
The medical record indicated that Mr. Ye had profuse sweating, pale face, shortness of breath, and blue lips at around 6:30 a.m., one hour before he died. These symptoms all indicated lack of oxygen, pointing to the fact that he was unable to breathe.
On the other hand, the medical record never mentioned that he was diagnosed with tuberculosis. Yet the forensic doctors stated that he died from the disease, which his friend said, could be a way for the authorities to cover up the real reason behind his death.
In terms of the broken rib, the forensic doctor stated that it occurred after he died, which Mr. Ye’s friend suspected was also to cover up the abuses he had suffered in custody.
His friend also noticed that the bruise on his abdomen wasn’t recorded in the autopsy report, nor were any supporting photos included in it, despite that the agencies that performed the autopsy took photos of his body during the dissection.
Mr. Ye was born in 1958. He graduated from Bijie Normal School in 1977. He worked as an elementary school teacher and principal before starting he went to work at a local military facility. Prior to taking up Falun Gong, he had many health issues, especially severe pain in his feet. He also smoked, drank, and sometimes gambled.
Mr. Ye’s wife recommended Falun Gong to him in 1995. He was drawn to the principles it taught, and actively practiced it. He quit all of his bad habits and promoted the practice to local residents, hoping more people could benefit from it as well.
Due to his reputation among local practitioners, the police searched his home and arrested him following the onset of the persecution. When he refused to renounce Falun Gong, he was held at a forced labor camp for a period of time.
Shortly after being released, Mr. Ye was arrested again at work in October 2000 and held at a detention center for six months. The police frequently interrogated him and ordered him to renounce Falun Gong. The detention center guards also constantly beat him for doing the Falun Gong exercises.
On April 17, 2001, Mr. Ye was given 2.5 years at Zhongba Forced Labor Camp, where he was tortured and subjected to brainwashing for upholding his faith. Despite his injuries, the guards also forced him to do intensive unpaid labor.
When Mr. Ye’s wife and son visited him in January 2002, his physical condition was still relatively good. He encouraged his son to study hard and do well in his high school entrance exam. His son promised to come back and visit him after the exam. None of them expected that this would be the last time they would see each other.
Mr. Ye developed a fever on June 18, 2002. His temperature reached 105.8 °F on the next day. During the routine talk given at dinner time, guard Li Jiming scolded Mr. Ye for not reporting his high temperature earlier. But there was no plan to send him to a hospital. Instead, the guards got some antipyretic for him, but no other treatment. Mr. Ye took a break from the forced labor and did the Falun Gong exercises in his cell. Other practitioners took good care of him. Two days later, the fever subsided and he was able to walk around.
Guards brought him to the labor camp hospital on June 23. The medical record mentioned above started from then.
Two inmates on the night shift in the labor camp hospital later told local Falun Gong practitioners about a situation on the evening of June 26. One of them was on the shift until 12 a.m. that day and Mr. Ye talked to him until 11:00 p.m., before going to sleep. The other inmate, whose shift started at 12 a.m., recounted that at around 1:00 a.m., a group of doctors rushed in and tried to perform resuscitation on Mr. Ye. Six hours later, he passed away.
In July, after Falun Gong practitioners incarcerated in the labor camp found out about Mr. Ye’s death, they made six requests to the prison authorities: 1) explain the reason for covering up Mr. Ye’s death; 2) disclose detailed information about his death; 3) investigate Guard Li for not seeking adequate treatment for Mr. Ye despite knowing his high temperature on June 19; 4) hold a memorial service of him; 5) tell Mr. Ye’s family that his fever had actually subsided and he had recovered by June 21 (six days before his death); 6) stop making excuses for Mr. Ye’s death and using his death to smear Falun Gong. The authorities agreed to requests 2) and 6), but no detailed report of Mr. Ye’s death was ever provided.
Perpetrators involved in Mr. Ye’s death:
1. Xia Wanxiang (夏万祥), head of Tuanjiexiang Police Station: +86-857-87340042. Zhao Qingyang (赵庆阳) and Nie Zongfa (聂宗发), political director of Bijie City Police Department: +86-857-8223041, +86-857-82213543. Yu Jiang (余江), Liu Yirui (刘遗瑞), Ge Junlan (葛俊兰), guards of Zhongba Forced Labor Camp4. Li Jiming (黎计明), police officer officer