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. However, he was arrested, sent back to Yilan County and held at the Second Detention Center for 77 days. During the detention, he was tortured in various ways: he was beaten and forced to stand for long periods of time; his head was dunked in the toilet by guards for a long time. On the instructions of assistant director of the detention center, Li Zhong, inmate Sun Hui used all means to torture Mr. Song everyday. Once, Sun used bath towels to choke Mr. Song, almost suffocating him. The authorities also extorted 6,900 Yuan from Mr. Song's family and confiscated his tricycle.

After he was released, on November 9, 2000, Mr. Song went to Beijing again 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 sent to the 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 the anti-persecution materials. They were arrested and sent to Yilan County Hotel to be tortured. The county "610 Office," Political and Security Department and the police station worked together to interrogate them, and tortured them for 36 continuous 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 unbearable pain.  After the torture, Mr. Song and others were sent to the Second Detention Center.

During his detention, Mr. Song went on a hunger strike to protest the torture. Three days later, the guards were ordered by the director, Zheng Jun, to force feed him with a high density brine; after fourteen days of force-feeding, his stomach was 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 prevent further persecution. Due to the torture he had previously suffered at the detention center, Mr. Song had severe stomach problems and could not eat anything.  Mr. Song finally collapsed and became bedridden while homeless. On November 3, 2002, he passed away.

type=Case, Torture; type=Case, Arbitrary Detention; type=Case, Death; type=Labor Camp, Changlizi Labor Camp; type=Detention Center, Second Detention Center of Yilan County; location=Heilongjiang, Yilan