Location of Torture and Death:
The Tangxia Detention Center in Tianhe district, Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province
Perpetrators:
Officials at the Tangxia Detention Center, Tianhe district, Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province
A Brief Report of the Incident:
On December 31, 1999, Mr. Gao Xianmin was detained while having lunch with ten other Falun Gong practitioners in Tianhe Park, Guangzhou City. He was sent to the Tangxia Detention Center.
At the detention center, Mr. Gao and several other practitioners went on a hunger strike to protest their illegal detention. He was reportedly force-fed with highly saturated salt water (two pounds of salt with little water) while he was tied up. His nose was covered with wet towels. Mr. Gao died on January 17, 2000.
On the afternoon of January 18, 2000, Mr. Gao’s family was notified of his death. The police claimed that when Mr. Gao suddenly lost consciousness around noon on January 17, 2000, they sent him to the hospital for emergency treatment but failed to save him. Another Falun Gong practitioner detained at the same detention center in November 1999, revealed that she received the same force-feeding treatment as Mr. Gao, when they went on the hunger strike. She was almost suffocated to death during the force-feeding. She suspected that the towels that covered Mr. Gao’s nose might have suffocated him.
News Reports:
Cases from Amnesty International, People’s Republic of China: The Crackdown on Falungong and Other So-called “Heretical” Organizations, March 23, 2000, AI Index: ASA 17/11/00.
http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/Index/ASA170112000?OpenDocument&of=COUNTRIESCHINA
4. Huang Yaoying, Sixty-Eight-Year-Old Female, Died in Police Custody
Victim:
Huang Yaoying, 68, female, a retired employee of a textile company, resided at Gaochengxin Street, Gaozhou City, Guangdong Province
Location of Torture and Death:
1. The Gaozhou Police Station, Gaozhou City, Guangdong Province
2. The Chengnan Police Station, Gaozhou City, Guangdong Province
Perpetrators:
1. Policemen from the Gaozhou Police Station, Gaozhou City, Guangdong Province
2. Policemen from the Chengnan Police Station, Gaozhou City, Guangdong Province
A Brief Report of the Incident:
On February 27, 2000, Ms. Huang Yaoying and several other Falun Gong practitioners from Gaozhou City went to Beijing to appeal to the Chinese government to stop the persecution of Falun Gong. They were arrested by the Beijing Police. Ms. Huang was escorted back to the Gaozhou Police Station, and detained there for 15 days.
Shortly after Ms. Huang was released, the police from the Chengnan Police Station of Gaozhou City arrested her again, only because she could not afford the exorbitant fine of 3,000 Yuan. On the morning of March 25, 2000, the police found that Ms. Huang was dead. The police officer on duty said he saw Ms. Huang going to the lavatory before dawn, but the autopsy by the legal medical expert indicated that she died at 1:00 a.m. When Ms. Huang’s relatives and friends saw the corpse, she was still handcuffed. The police did not allow her family to mention her death to people. They paid 5,000 Yuan to her family to end the case and destroyed all records. It remains unknown how Ms. Huang died, but the payoff and the destruction of records lead many to believe that Ms. Huang was tortured to death.
5. Lai Zhijun Tortured to Death
Victim:
Lai Zhijun, the former vice mayor of Fenggang Town, Dongwan City, Guangdong Province, a deputy director of the National People's Congress, and a former communist party member
Location of Torture and Death:
1. Dongwan Detention Center, Dongwan City, Guangdong Province
2. Guangdong Labor Camp, Sanshui City, Guangdong Province
Perpetrators:
1. Officials at the Dongwan Detention Center, Dongwan City, Guangdong Province
2. Officials at the Guangdong Labor Camp, Sanshui City, Guangdong Province
A Brief Report of the Incident:
In 2000, because he was a Falun Gong practitioner, Mr. Lai Zhijun was illegally arrested and jailed at the Dongwan Detention Center, Guangdong Province.
On March 29, 2001, Mr. Lai was transferred to Guangdong Labor Camp, Sanshui City. He was tortured to death about four to five days after he arrived at the camp.
The labor camp officials told Mr. Lai’s family that he had died of some illness and gave his family 400 Yuan. They threatened his family never to mention Mr. Lai’s death to anyone.
6. Chen Chengyong Tortured to Death
Victim:
Chen Chengyong, male, 35, an electrician at the Guangzhou Paper Manufacturing Corporation, and a resident of the Haizhu District of Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province
Location of Torture and Death:
The Mrs. He Guirong Welfare Institute, Jiangnan Avenue, Haizhu District, Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province
Perpetrators:
Policemen from the Haizhu District of Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province
A Brief Report of the Incident:
After the Chinese government banned Falun Gong in July 1999, Mr. Chen Chengyong went to Beijing many times to appeal to the government to stop the persecution of Falun Gong. Because of this, he lost his job. In November 2000, to avoid being sent to a brainwashing class, he left his home and rented a different place to live.
In July 2001, the police notified Mr. Chen’s family that he had died in a hut. When his elder sister went to identify him, she found that Mr. Chen’s body had undergone significant decomposition. It seemed clear that he had been dead for some time before the police notified his family. Mr. Chen’s house was then closely watched by the police.
There have been over a dozen practitioners detained at the Mrs. He Guirong Welfare Institute. A witness reported that Mr. Chen was tortured to death there.
News Reports:
Age (Melbourne): Australian Woman Wants Government to Help Her Retrieve Husband's Ashes
http://www.theage.com.au/breaking/2002/01/02/FFX9KNQZXVC.html
7. Zeng Yuwen Lost His Life While Trying to Escape
Victim:
Zeng Yuwen, male, in his 20's, from Zijin County, Heyuan City, Guangdong Province
Location of Torture and Death:
A moving train going from Beijing to Guangdong Province, near Lechang County, Guangdong Province
Perpetrators:
1. Deng Riyang, the Head of the Zijin County Police Bureau, Heyuan City, Guangdong Province
2. Ye Jianbo; Hu Guoguang; and Yang Duguang, officials from the Political Security Section, Zijin County Police Bureau, Heyuan City, Guangdong Province
A Brief Report of the Incident:
After July 1999, Mr. Zeng Yuwen went to Beijing twice to appeal to the government to stop the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. He was arrested and detained several times by the police of the Zijin County Police Bureau.
In July 2000, Mr. Zeng went to Beijing to appeal for the third time. On the train back to Guangdong Province, near Lechang County, the police tried to arrest him. To avoid the continuous detention and torture, Mr. Zeng jumped out of the moving train. He lost his life while trying to escape.
8. Chen Liwen Lost Her Life While Trying to Escape from the Police
Victim:
Chen Liwen, female, in her 60’s, resident of Gaozhou City, Guangdong Province
Location of Torture and Death:
The Maoming City Liaison Office Building in Beijing, Majiabao Road, Beijing
Perpetrators:
Policemen from the Beijing office of Maoming City, Beijing.
A Brief Report of the Incident:
On December 17, 2000, Ms. Chen Liwen along with eleven other Falun Gong practitioners went to Beijing to appeal to the government to stop the persecution of Falun Gong. The Beijing police arrested them.
The police from Gaozhou City were notified and came to Beijing. They took the practitioners to the Maoming City Liaison Building in Beijing, Ms. Chen, the ten other female practitioners, and one male practitioner, were detained in a room on the fourth floor. The police planned to take the 12 practitioners back to Guangzhou by train.
While in detention, the practitioners requested that the police release them because they were illegally detained. The police did not just ignore their request. They harassed the practitioners, even lifting female practitioners' quilts to look their bodies. On the morning of December 22, the practitioners locked the door of their room so that the police could not continue to harass them. The police tried to break in, but failed. Then they called in a fire truck with an extension ladder and tried to break in from the window on the fourth floor. The practitioners strongly resisted their attempts, not wanting the police to come in and to continue to insult and persecute them at will.
From 4:00 p.m. on December 22, until the early hours of the next morning, a large number of local policemen came to help, but the practitioners still refused to open the door. Between 3:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m. on December 23, the police used force to open the door and at the same time sent up a ladder, so they could break in from the window. The practitioners did not want to be taken away by the police and jumped out of the building one after another. Ms. Chen died from the fall.
