Mr. Liu Xiwen was a 60-year old retired teacher from Zhenxing Elementary School in Suihua City, Heilongjiang Province. He died on May 20, 2002 after being homeless for 14 months, and deprived of any income from his pension for 18 months.

In July of 2000, police searched Mr. Liu’s home and attempted to force him to write a statement to renounce Falun Gong. He was fined 400 Yuan for refusing to do so. The following December he traveled to Beijing to appeal for an end to the persecution of Falun Gong and was beaten and arrested by police. He was then sent to a detention center in Suihua City. Yang Zhenbo, director of the Beilin District Educational Committee issued orders that nobody was allowed to visit him or bail him out, and listed Mr. Liu as a key target for persecution. Under these severe circumstances, Mr. Liu wrote a guarantee statement of renouncing Falun Gong and paid a 5000 yuan fine for his release. Nevertheless, the Beilin District Educational Committee illegally deprived Mr. Liu of his pension. He received nothing from his pension until the Chinese New Year of 2000.

The Educational Committee director and his secretary pressured Liu’s school to harass him, and also targeted Xinhua Elementary School where his daughter works. One day in the middle of the night, the school principal Ren Shulan, along with Yang Zhenbo and others, even went to Liu Xiwen daughter’s home to threat her. On January 26, 2000, right before the Chinese New Year, the Committee Director and Zhenxing Elementary School principal tricked Mr. Liu into coming to the school and tried to force him to write another guarantee statement. To avoid further persecution, Mr. Liu and his wife spent the Chinese New Year away from home.

In April 2001, the Committee Director and school officials came to harass Mr. Liu again, so he fled his home for good. In April 2002, the Suihua City government staged a public safety incident in order to create an excuse to initiate a mass persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in that region. Police posed an axe with a Falun Gong CD and banner on the rail near Suihua Railroad. Mr. Liu, who had fled to Daqing City, was one of those targeted in the ensuing “investigation”, and he was again arrested and abused in custody. Due to intense persecution over a long period of time, Liu’s mental and physical health deteriorated severely. On May 2nd, Liu’s daughter brought him home, and on May 20, 2002 he passed away.

Type=Case, Death; location=Heilongjiang,Suihua;