Victim:

Mr. Li Zhiyong, male, 26, was a worker of Dining Department, Changchun City Industry and Commercial Bank.

Locations:

1.      Changchun Luyuan Police Sub-Bureau, Changchun City, Jilin Province

2.      Changchun Tiebei Detention Center, Changchun City, Jilin Province

3.      Jilin Prison No. 3 District, Jilin City, Jilin Province

4.      Jilin Central Hospital Nephropathy Department, Jilin City, Jilin Province

Perpetrators:

1.   Police of Changchun Luyuan Police Sub-Bureau, Changchun City, Jilin Province

2.      Police of Changchun Tiebei Detention Center, Changchun City, Jilin Province

3.      Police of Jilin Prison No. 3 District, Jilin City, Jilin Province

Description:

On March 5, 2002, Mr. Li Zhiyong participated in tapping into a cable TV signal in China’s northeastern city of Changchun to broadcast programs exposing the atrocities against Falun Gong practitioners in China and Chairman Jiang’s attempts to cover them up.

On March 10, 2002, police of the Changchun Luyuan Police Sub-Bureau arrested him. After being arbitrarily detained for 21 months in Changchun Tiebei Detention Center, Mr. Li was sentenced to four years in jail and sent to Jilin Prison No. 3 District at the end of 2003.

When his family went to visit him on December 25, 2003, his health condition was fine. On February 15, 2004, when his family wanted to see him again, they were refused and the guards said it was because Mr. Li refused to be “transformed.” After the family insisted on seeing him, they were able to visit him on April 15, 2004, and at that time his health was fine. In the middle of May 2004, the prison called his family, saying that he had kidney disease. Under close supervision, Mr. Li’s family saw him in the prison and discovered that his whole body had become severely swollen and that he was unable to eat or sleep. He could only lie on his side. He told his family that his condition had been like that for more than ten days. Then he was too weak to talk and collapsed on the table. The police said that Mr. Li could be sent to hospital if he renounced Falun Gong, but he refused to renounce Falun Gong. On May 24, 2004, his family attempted to see him again but failed. They went through the local hospitals of Jilin City one by one and found Mr. Li in Jilin Central Hospital’s Nephropathy Department. According to a doctor, he had heart hydrocele, ascites, albuminuria, etc. and was very difficult to cure. The doctor also said that Mr. Li had not had nephrotic syndrome before and that as a 26-year-old young man, it was impossible for him to be like that except through a car accident or asphyxia and shock caused by severe beatings. However, the police from the Jilin Prison did not allow the family members to see Mr. Li even when he was on the brink of death. Several days later, his family members called the police to ask when they could see him. The police became very angry and yelled on the phone, “How did you know Li was in the Central Hospital? Nobody knows where the Falun Gong practitioners from Jilin Prison are detained! If you call again we will transfer him to a place you will never find!”

There are several practitioners were already tortured to death in the Jilin Prison.  Mr. Liu Chengjun was beaten to death on December 26, 2003; Mr. Wang Guiming was beaten for eight days and nights; Mr. Zhang Hongwei was tied to a “death bed” for more than 50 days. Now Mr. Li is also suffering from brutal persecution and no one knows his exact situation. We are very concerned about Mr. Li’s life and hereby request an urgent action by the United Nations to safeguard the life of Mr. Li.