Mr. Song Ruiyi, male, age 48, was a farmer from Chaoyang Village, Yilan County, Heilongjiang Province.

On January 6, 2000, Mr. Song went to Beijing to appeal to the government to stop the persecution of Falun Gong. He was arrested, taken back to Yilan County, and held at the Yilan County Second Detention Center for 77 days. During the detention, he was tortured in various ways, including being beaten and forced to stand for many hours at a time. Guards also held his head underwater in the toilet for a long time. On instructions from the assistant director of the detention center, Li Zhong, inmate Sun Hui tortured Mr. Song every day. Once, Sun used bath towels to strangle and choke Mr. Song, almost suffocating him. The authorities also extorted 6,900 Yuan from Mr. Song’s family and confiscated his valuable belongings.

On November 9, 2000, after his release, Mr. Song again went to Beijing to appeal. Once again, he was escorted back to Yilan County. He was held at the Chengnan Police Station, where policeman Liu Qingtao beat him, causing black and blue bruises over his entire body. Afterwards, Mr. Song was again sent to the Yilan County Second Detention Center. Later, he was sentenced to one year of forced labor and sent to the Changlizi Labor Camp in Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province. He was released on May 31, 2001.

On November 29, 2001, Mr. Song, accompanied by his wife and seven other practitioners, went to rural areas to distribute materials that expose the persecution of Falun Gong. All nine practitioners were arrested and sent to the Yilan County Hotel to be tortured. The county “610 Office,” the Political and Security Department, and the police station worked together to interrogate them and torture them for 36 consecutive hours. Mr. Song’s hands were tied behind his back, with one hand over the shoulder and the other hand against the lower back. The police then applied a great deal of force to pull the two hands toward one another and handcuffed the two hands together. They then hung him up by the handcuffs. Eventually, the cuffs cut into Mr. Song’s flesh, leaving him in tremendous pain. After the torture, Mr. Song and others were sent to the Yilan County Second Detention Center.

Mr. Song began a hunger strike to protest his detention. Three days later, the director, Zheng Jun, ordered the guards to force-feed him with a highly concentrated salt solution; after fourteen days of force-feeding, his stomach was irreparably damaged, and he was on the brink of death. The authorities of the detention center released Mr. Song to avoid responsibility should he die in the detention center.

After his release, Mr. Song and his wife had to leave home to avoid further persecution. Due to the torture he had previously suffered at the detention center, Mr. Song had severe stomach problems and could hardly eat anything. He finally collapsed and became bedridden while homeless. On November 3, 2002, he passed away in a place far from his hometown.

type=Case, Death; type=Case, Freedom of Expression; type=Case, Torture; type=Detention Center, Yilan County Second Detention Center; location=Heilongjiang, Yilan;