Victim:

Mr. Li Zhengling, also known as Li Erwa, 44, from Gulin County, Sichuan Province.

Mr. Li Zhengling was born October 9, 1964. He retired from the Yanyuan County Armed Police Department, and was employed by the Taiping Town Store of the Gulin County Chinese Herb Company. Later he ran his own herb store. He began practicing Falun Gong in 1996, and benefited both physically and spiritually.

After July 20, 1999, when the persecution started, Mr. Li joined group Falun Gong exercises at the Changzheng Bridge, located at the border of Sichuan and Guizhou Provinces. Officers from the Xingmin District Police Station in Xishui County, Guizhou Province and the Taiping Town Police Station in Gulin County, Sichuan Province arrested and detained him. Authorities from the Xishui County Police Department, the Xingmin District Police Station, and the Taiping Town Police Station in Gulin County each demanded 8,000 yuan (a total of 24,000 yuan) from Mr. Li Zhengling's family as a condition of his release. Mr. Li's wife did not have the money, so three days later, the police officers sentenced Mr. Li to three years in a forced labor camp. Mr. Li was imprisoned in the Qing Town Forced Labor Camp, where he was subjected to numerous types of torture, including being locked in a small cell, forced to work overtime, forced standing for long periods of time, hanging by handcuffs, brutal beatings, and shocks from electric batons. His term was extended by two months even though his physical health was extremely poor.

Mr. Li was released in December 2002, and he got involved in a coal business in Taiping Town. On December 28, 2004, six police officers from the Gulin County Police Department, led by the head of the Criminal Police Team Zou Qiang, ransacked Mr. Li's home and took him to the Gulin County Detention Center. He became blind in his left eye due to torture. The county hospital doctor said he should be bailed out on medical parole, but the 610 Office refused, and decided to sentence him to prison.

On August 8, 2005, Mr. Li was sentenced to five years in prison and sent to the Deyang Prison in Huangxu Town, Sichuan Province. In April 2006, the prison officials notified Mr. Li's family that he was in critical condition. When his wife Hong Shiping and sister-in-law Qiu Jufen came to the Deyang Prison, they saw that Mr. Li 's entire body was swollen, and he had injuries on his face, nose and mouth. He was unable to urinate on his own and was using a catheter. He could not recognize people, yet the prison told his family members that they could only see him for 30 minutes, and that they could not release him.

In October 2007, when Mr. Li's family went to Deyang Prison to visit him, they saw that he was disfigured, emaciated, and blind in both eyes, and he could not take care of himself. When his family members requested that he be released on medical grounds, a prison warden replied, "He has not been 'transformed' so he cannot be released."

On June 24, 2008, officers from Taiping Police Station in Gulin County notified Mr. Li’s family that he had died in the Shuangliu Police Hospital in Chengdu City, Sichuan Province. When his family rushed to the hospital, they saw that he was wrapped in sheets, and his face was swollen and festering. The prison authorities said he died because he refused to cooperate when getting treatment. The family members were only allowed to see him briefly, and were not allowed to take photos of his body. He was cremated immediately afterwards, and the prison authorities refused to tell the family exactly when Mr. Li died or how he was treated in hospital. They also would not give their contact information or issue a death certificate. They only gave his family the ashes. His family does not know any details of his death.

Posted on February 1, 2009