Mr. Cheng Xueshan was a 64-year-old Falun Gong practitioner from Tongjiang City, Heilongjiang Province. Cheng Xueshan was once illegally detained for more than 6 months in Jiamusi Labor Camp for practicing Falun Gong. In the winter of 2002, because of the lengthy torture he had endured, he could not eat and would vomit whenever he tried to eat anything. The police claimed that Mr. Cheng was on a hunger strike, so they deprived him of sleep and threw him into a small room. He was handcuffed and shackled to the floor. He was then forced to sit on the cold concrete for a week. As a result, both of his hands became numb. He could not take care of himself and his entire body was swollen. He was released later.

On April 9, 2005, while Mr. Cheng was distributing informational materials on the persecution of Falun Gong in Nongqiao Town, Fuyuan County, Zhang Sidong and other policemen from the Political Security Division of the Fuyuan Police Department arrested him. Three days later, Mr. Cheng died due to the brutal torture he experienced at their hands. The police tightly guarded the hospital mortuary, and did not allow Mr. Cheng’s family members to view or pick up his body.

According to one doctor who works in the hospital, Mr. Cheng was already dead when carried into the hospital.

Since the persecution of Falun Gong began on July 20, 1999, the Fuyuan County Police Department Political Security Division Director, Zhang Sidong, and other policemen have persecuted Falun Gong practitioners in many ways. Their brutal torture methods have included forcing employers to guarantee their workers will not practice Falun Gong; implicating family members; charging illegal fines or ransoms; enticements and threats; and attracting collaborators with financial interest. In addition, they have tapped practitioners' telephones, subjected them to video-surveillance (according to the police, there were 16 bugged phone lines and 5 monitors for video-recording), confiscating family members' property, illegal detention and torture, and illegal sentencing to labor camps.

Director Zhang has arrested about 100 practitioners, and sent nearly 30 practitioners to labor camps, and forced many others to become homeless as they try to avoid arrest and harassment.

type=case,death;location=Heilongjiang,Tongjiang