Issued by Clearwisdom Net

In April 2007, an additional twenty one deaths of Falun Gong practitioners in China due to torture were confirmed. Among them, sixteen practitioners died between January and March in 2007 and five died in April 2007. Eight practitioners, 38 percent, were females, and thirteen, 67 percent, were seniors over fifty years old.

To date, the Clearwisdom website has collected 3030 confirmed deaths of Falun Gong practitioners in China due to abuse and torture since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Jiang Zemin's minions began persecuting Falun Gong in July 1999. These numbers were confirmed through unofficial channels, as the CCP keeps tight control over the information about the persecution. The actual death count is estimated to be much higher. During the close to eight years of this unprecedented persecution, many practitioners were arrested, illegally imprisoned, and many disappeared. More than a year ago, the CCP's harvesting organs from live Falun Gong practitioners was exposed to the international community. Facing worldwide condemnation, the CCP, specialized in sophistry for its crimes, only publicly acknowledged that the organs for transplant were all from executed criminals, an allegation that the CCP had denied in the past. An independent international investigation committee discovered that according to official data from China, there were over sixty thousand organ transplants but only over one thousand executed criminals during the past few years. The CCP has not responded.

The twenty one deaths confirmed in April 2007 were found in the following provinces, cities, and Autonomous Regions (ARs): Jilin Province (four deaths), Heilongjiang Province (three deaths), Hubei Province (three deaths), Shandong Province (three deaths), Liaoning Province (two deaths), Sichuan Province (one death), Inner Mongolia AR (one death), Tianjin City (one death), Jiangxi Province (one death), Shanxi Province (one death), and Shaanxi Province (one death).

There were teachers, professionals, retirees, factory workers, farmers, and others. Many of these practitioners had serious illnesses (some were even fatal diseases) before they practiced Falun Gong. After they practiced Falun Gong and lived by the principles of Truthfulness, Benevolence, and Forbearance, they regained their health and improved their moral standards. Falun Gong provides hundreds of benefits and brings no harm to the public and the nation. When Falun Gong was slandered, these people held onto their beliefs and kept clarifying the truth. The CCP treated them as a political enemy and carried out an unprecedented and inhuman political persecution.

When practitioner Ms. Sun Houlian from Xiayu Village, Gaoling Town, Mouping District, Yantai City, Shandong Province, was imprisoned at the Zibo City Number Two Women's Forced Labor Camp, Wang Village, Zibo City, Shandong Province, she was forced to watch other practitioners being hung up and beaten. That left a deep psychological scar on her mind. She was tortured to death on March 16, 2007, at the age of 57.

Practitioner Mr. Yang Pingshen, 64, died due to torture at the Nanchang Prison, Jiangxi Province, in March 2007. The family received no more than a box of his ashes after being notified of his death.

Practitioner Mr. Liu Jingming from Heilongjiang Province worked at Qiqihar City Chinese Medicine Hospital, Heilongjiang Province. He was honored as an "outstanding" purchasing agent. During the CCP's extremely brutal persecution against Falun Gong, Mr. Liu Jingming had been illegally imprisoned, sent to forced labor camp and tortured. On February 8, 2007, he was detained at Tailai Prison. It took wardens at Tailai Prison only 46 days to torture thirty nine year-old Mr. Liu to death. At 7 p.m. on March 24, 2007, Warden Ji Hengtai of the Training Unit at Tailai Prison phoned Liu Jingming's home. He claimed that Mr. Liu died after "jumping out of the window of the building" at 1:40 a.m. on March 24. The CCP has used this excuse for almost eight years after murdering practitioners.

Mr. Liu Jingming from Qiqihar City, Heilongjiang Province

Practitioner Mr. Liu Jingming was born on July 23, 1968. He worked at Qiqihar City Chinese Medicine Hospital and was considered an "outstanding" purchasing agent. He began to practice Falun Gong in 1995, and lived his life by the principles "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance." He thought of others first before doing or saying anything. He was not corrupt or selfish when he worked as a purchasing agent. He treated people kindly, and was recognized as a good person by the entire hospital staff. His invention "two sections stick" for the hospital's security department was patented by the China Patent Office in 1995. The hospitals suffered from severe water loss in 2001. Most of the taps leaked, and the hospital could not get it fixed after spending a great deal of money. Mr. Liu Jingming fixed all the taps in the hospital without asking for compensation. The hospital staff no longer had problems with the water taps. The savings to the hospital amounted to several thousands yuan a year. The hospital emblem he engraved in 2002 during his spare time still hangs in the hospital office.

Sadly, such a kindhearted, compassionate and good person who lived by the principles "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance" was imprisoned and taken to a forced labor camp. They extorted money, and sentenced and murdered him after Falun Gong was banned in 1999 by the CCP.

At 11 a.m. on March 25, some of Liu's family members went to Tailai Prison. Warden Ji Hengtai claimed that the guards at the prison "cared" for practitioners. When questioned about the cause of Liu Jingming's death, Ji Hengtai said, "We carry out forced 'transformation' of practitioners. Mr. Liu Jingming was 'very stubborn.' He would not recite prison rules, only his Master Li's articles. Mr. Liu Jingming chose death because he 'felt that the prison term was too long.'"

Ji Hengtai claimed that Mr. Liu Jingming was held in the training cell on the 3rd floor. At 1:15 am on March 24, Mr. Liu Jingming asked to go to the toilet. Two prisoners were on duty and one was smoking outside the cell. The prisoner alleged that he heard the sound of the iron window opening. He went inside to grab Mr. Liu Jingming's right hand. Mr. Liu Jingming escaped and jumped out of the window through the open iron bars. Five minutes later, they carried Liu Jingming to the prison hospital. Mr. Liu Jingming died at 1:40 am on March 24, 2007.

Family members, deeply grieved, asked indignantly, "Since Mr. Liu Jingming died at 1:40 a.m., why did the prison staff not notify the family until 7 p.m.? What did you do for those 18 hours? Can iron bars be so easily broken loose at the prison? Besides, Mr. Liu Jingming endured great suffering from forced-transformation, was tortured daily and was emaciated. Where did he get the strength to break open the iron bars? Mr. Liu Jingming's knees were purple and black. There was blood and other marks on his knees. This was certainly caused by long term kneeling."

The prison could not answer.

Tailai Prison, Heilongjiang Province

When the family members, with eyes filled with tears saw Mr. Liu Jingming's body, they were shocked. The body was horribly mangled. The right side of the head was caved in. The face and entire body was horribly damaged. The woolen sweater and pants he wore were soaked with blood, but his underwear and underpants did not show any bloodstains. Mr. Liu Jingming's elder sister said that this was not his underwear. The left leg showed signs of possible torture. The right leg had a hole, which was approximately 5 to 6 centimeters in diameter. The right leg was twisted and both knees were purple and black and showed coagulated blood.

Mr. Liu Jingming's body frozen at the Tailai Prison Hospital

According to an anonymous source, Mr. Liu Jingming and other Falun Gong practitioners were taken to the Tailai Prison on February 8, 2007. They were first put in the Training Center to undergo forced "transformation" through torture. On March 22, 2007, "Touring Speakers" went to Tailai Prison to slander Falun Gong, Mr. Liu Jingming, Mr. Ren Yingqun and other two Falun Gong practitioners stood up to expose the lies. They were brutally tortured afterwards. Wardens and criminal inmate Zhou Lixin beat him to death. Because his body had many injury marks, they could not claim him as "sudden death of heart failure" to deceive his family, so the prison fabricated the "jumping out of window." The prison put Zhou Lixin into a confined compartment so that the truth would not be revealed.

(More information can be found at /emh/articles/2007/4/14/84551.html).

Practitioner Mr. Zhao Dianbin, 78 years old, was from Chifeng City, the Inner Mongolian AR. Zhao Dianbin was originally from the Songshan District of Chifeng City. He used to suffer from various illnesses such as asthma and heart disease caused by lung disorders. His annual medical costs were the highest at his place of employment. Mr. Zhao started to practice Falun Gong in 1996 and all his illnesses were cured. His face turned red and his gray hair turned black. He no longer needed to spend a penny on medicine.

In July 1999, the CCP and Jiang's regime started to persecute Falun Gong. On July 22, 1999, several policemen roughly forced Mr. Zhao into a police vehicle when he was practicing the Falun Gong exercises in front of Chifeng City Museum. They drove him and other practitioners to a mountain in a far-away Chifeng suburban area. Then they pushed him and the other practitioners out of the vehicle and left. The practitioners had to walk a long way home. On July 23, 1999, police chief Liu Qi from the Xitun local police station in Hongshan District arrested Mr. Zhao at his home and took him to the police station. The police forced Mr. Zhao, in his seventies, to stay under the steaming hot sun until he fell over from heat exhaustion. One sympathetic policeman finally let him go home.

In October 1999, Zhao Dianbin went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong. The Beijing police arrested him and detained him in Huairou County (a Beijing suburb), where CCP personnel threatened Mr. Zhao that they would "execute" him. Later they took Mr. Zhao to the Chifeng City Liaison Office in Beijing. Then he was taken back to Chifeng. Zheng Hongchao (or Zheng Hongtao) stole Mr. Zhao's money that he had in his pocket.

On October 30, 2000, CCP personnel from Hongshan District suddenly arrived at Mr. Zhao's residence to ransack his home and confiscate his personal belongings. They arrested him, his wife Mrs. Zou Reihuan, his son Mr. Zhao Hongyang, and daughter-in-law Mrs. Zhao Chunfeng. All of them were later cruelly tortured. Policeman Yang Liping and another officer used barbaric methods to torture Mr. Zhao Dianbin. They used electric shocks and brutal beatings. In addition, they handcuffed him and then tightened the cuffs until he passed out. They then fabricated an oral confession and pressed his fingerprint on the paper while he was unconscious. After that, they used this falsified oral confession to implicate Mr. Zhao's daughter, Ms. Zhao Shuzhen, who worked in Beijing. This case provided false testimony for the notorious officials Bu Ren and others, who used it as their justification to torture Mr. Zhao Hongyang, Mrs. Zhao Chunfeng, and Mrs. Zou Ruihuan.

The CCP personnel spread lies about Ms. Zhao Shuzhen and gathered over a dozen police officers to go to Beijing to arrest her. They claimed that they had solved an important case. The officers and Chifeng TV Station videotaped Ms. Zhao Shuzhen, and broadcast it on the Inner Mongolia AR TV Station channel. They broadcast information on Ms. Zhao's whole family and her relatives. In addition, they asked her to comment on the staged "self-immolation" case. Ms. Zhao said, "Falun Gong practitioners do not kill any animals, not to mention a human being."

Hongshan District Court sentenced Ms. Zhao to three years in prison, and locked her up in the First Women's Prison in Huhhot, Inner Mongolia.

CCP personnel in Chifeng detained Mr. Zhao in Hongshan District Detention Center. They stole the 220 yuan he had with him and also extorted 6,000 yuan. Officer Yang Liping would not issue a receipt.

In May 2005, officials from Hongshan District suddenly broke into Zhao Honghai's residence. They confiscated the recordings of Falun Gong lectures. In October 2006, they suddenly broke into Mr. Zhao Dianbin's residence and took away the family's inherited silver.

In addition, Yin Shouming from Tienan Police Station in Hongshan District, Xu Caiyun from the Residential Committee, and Ma and Zou Jinglin from the Street Administration Office went to Mr. Zhao's home repeatedly, trying to drive him out of their jurisdiction. They came day and night to threaten him. They pounded on the door, and yelled wildly. His neighbors were horrified. Mr. Zhao's three sons, three daughters-in-law, and three daughters were all arrested and put into prison for practicing Falun Gong.

Mr. Zhao Dianbin had been harassed by CCP personnel for a long time. His entire family had suffered various degrees of persecution. As a result of the relentless persecution, Mr. Zhao passed away on March 20, 2007.

(More information can be found at /emh/articles/2007/4/16/84608.html)

Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Chen Qiji, 46, was a middle school teacher in Jinmen City, Hubei Province. Because he firmly held onto his belief and publicly spoke the truth about Falun Gong and the persecution, he was sentenced to ten years in Shayang Prison in Hubei Province. He was brutally tortured and died in April 2007.

Mr. Chen Qiji was about 6 feet tall and was physically strong. Because he was firm in his belief and continued to practice Falun Gong, he was brutally mistreated by CCP officials. He was sentenced to three years of forced labor in 1999 and was arrested again in 2004 because he was publicly clarifying the truth about the persecution. He was sentenced to ten years in prison secretly without any legal procedures.

During his detention in Shayang Prison, Mr. Chen Qiji remained firm in his belief. As punishment, he endured numerous kinds of cruel torture until his life was in danger. On February 7, 2007, the Prison Administration was worried that he might die in the prison, so they took him home at the brink of death. Mr. Chen died on April 3, 2007.

Mr. Chen Qiji's wife, Ms. Li Yanhua, is also a Falun Gong practitioner. She supported her husband's practice. She was also arrested in 2004 and illegally sentenced to ten years in prison. She is currently detained in the Wuhan Women's Prison. The couple has not seen each other for the past six years due to the persecution. She was not allowed to see her husband even when he was dying. Now there are only Mr. Chen's parents (both in their 70s) and Ms. Li's mother (in her 80s) taking care of their young child.

In March of 2007, Hong Kong Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Zeng Aihua was tried and sentenced to three years in prison. She appealed, but the 1st Middle People's Court of Shanghai rejected her appeal. She was tried a second time, but the court did not notify her family or attorney. Ms. Zeng was taken to Shanghai Women's Prison on April 16.

To conceal their criminal act, the Shanghai 610 Office and the police secretly manipulated Zeng Aihua's second trial. One month after the second trial her family and attorney were still kept completely in the dark and did not know anything about it.

Ms. Zeng Aihua's family and attorney saw her in court in February 2007 during the first trial, but they were unable to see her or get any information about her after that. The police deliberately arranged her first trial to be before the New Year (February 12) so that her 10-day-appeal period would fall on the holidays. The court was closed during this time, and on-call personnel would not answer anything related to her case. Since it has to be the defendant who initiates the appeal, her family and attorney were very worried that Zeng Aihua might not know this and they could not deliver the message to her. After the New Year, they found out that Zeng Aihua had indeed filed her appeal to the court.

Ms. Zeng's attorney, Wen Haipo requested that personnel at the Shanghai Pudongxinqu Court, where she was sentenced, send the case material and all the related letters to him at the 1st Middle People's Court. His request was unjustifiably rejected.

During the next two months, attorney Wen Haipo had no choice but to keep calling the 1st Middle People's Court, which was handling the case. Each time he was told that they did not receive the case, so Zeng Aihua lost the chance for her attorney to defend her.

On April 20, Zeng Aihua's family received a letter from Zeng at the Shanghai Women's Prison. It was the first letter her family had received since she was arrested on May 23, 2006. They realized that she had been sent to prison several days earlier.

Her family called the court and inquired about the case. They were told that the second trial was over, and the Judge's name was Chen Li. Chen Li admitted that the court decided not to open the court, and that she just read through the case, without seeing Zeng Aihua or the witness. She claimed that during the week of March 7-15, no attorney had contacted them about the case, so they did not notify her attorney. The defense was only from Zeng Aihua's written appeal. Chen Li claimed that she had no choice but to reject the appeal and keep the original verdict.

When Zeng's family asked Chen Li on what grounds she kept the original verdict, she was ambiguous and vaguely stated that it was based on the law written by the people's delegate, but could not tell the family which exact law. Chen Li asked the family to look it up themselves online. Her family asked why they never received any notification even one month after the verdict. Chen Li stated that the verdict had been sent on March 15 to the local Puxing Road Police Station which handles the district where Zeng's temporary address is, Pudongxinqu 780 Wulian Road. The police were supposed to deliver the verdict in person to the family.

When Zeng's family called the police station, they spoke to several officers, all of whom seemed quite nervous and they kept changing their story. First they refused to answer any questions over phone, then they told her family they could come to the police station in person to inquire. They repeatedly stated that the policeman who should have delivered the letter was named Qiu Lin and he was out on business, so they would have to wait until he returned from the trip, while in actuality he was at the police station when the phone call took place. The next day, police at the station gave their final answer: They never received the verdict. The court insisted that they had sent out the verdict, yet the police station denied that they received it. No one would take responsibility for the verdict from the second trial.

The entire event was a big blow to Zeng Aihua's family. They could not believe that their loved one was deprived of her right of defense. Since the evil Chinese Communist Party (CCP) did not notify them of the verdict, they only knew of the results because of her letter from prison. They raised a strong protest against the illegal trial and the secret cover-up.

Zeng Aihua is being held in Group 5, Ward 1, Shanghai Women's Prison. Many Falun Gong practitioners are jailed there.

Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Ren Xichang from Changchun City, Jilin Province was taken to the Chaoyanggou Labor Camp against his will three times. He recently suffered a mental breakdown resulting from the torture and abuse he endured.

Because Mr. Ren Xichang steadfastly held on to his belief in Falun Gong and rejected all attempts at reformation, the CCP arrested and detained him numerous times. Each time his term was unjustly extended. After his arrests, his family was left without a source of income and their lives fell into a hopeless situation. The authorities did not even allow his family to receive the welfare benefits that all low income families receive. Mr. Ren's disabled wife cries continuously; she has visited all the relevant departments many times and tearfully asked for Mr. Ren's release, but no one pays any attention to her. She went to the Chaoyanggou Labor Camp to visit Mr. Ren, but the labor camp denied her entry, so she was not aware of the persecution Mr. Ren has suffered there.

Several days ago, the police suddenly broke into the family's home once again, demanding that they pay a large amount of money to treat Mr. Ren's illness. Only then did the family know that Mr. Ren had been mistreated in the labor camp; and, that it was so severe he reached the point of mental breakdown. His life is now in danger. The authorities did not release him, but took him to Siping City Mental Hospital where the persecution continues. His family was even asked to pay for the "treatment". The police were extremely rude and disrespectful. Because the family members truly did not have any money, the police tried to further intimidate them saying that if the family didn't pay, they would be held responsible for all the consequences .

Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Wang Yunxiu, from Fenxi County, Shanxi Province, was injected with unknown drugs by guards Wang Lijun (female) and Wang Shihua (male), as well as prison doctor Guo Hongwei, when she was illegally detained in the detention center a few years ago. The drugs left her in a coma, and her arms and legs became numb.

In 2001, Ms. Wang Yunxiu was illegally imprisoned at Fenxi County Detention Center and she held a hunger strike to protest the personnel's brutality. On the seventh day of her hunger strike, September 8, 2001, at around 10 a.m., guard Wang Lijun (female) dragged Ms. Wang by her feet to a prison cell and gave her an intravenous injection. Because of the extreme pain, Ms. Wang Yunxiu screamed ,"Don't do it. It hurts!" Wang Lijun loudly replied, "Look, her mental disorder has come back again. Hurry up, give her two shots". Then, she instigated Guo Hongwei to mix two bottles of unknown drugs into the liquid they were injecting to her. Ms. Wang Yunxiu instantly felt dizzy, and she shouted in the confusion, "What are you doing to me? What drug are you injecting in to me? I do not feel so well." Then, she lost consciousness.

It is unknown how long it was before Ms. Wang Yunxiu needed to use the toilet. She requested, "I need to use the toilet. I need to use the toilet". She tried to get up from the bed, but her four limbs were too numb to move. She felt dizzy and lost consciousness again. When she woke up from her suffering, she found herself kneeling on the floor with her body over a sofa. She realized she still needed to use the toilet and requested one more time. Before anybody answered her, she lost consciousness again. She did not know how long it was before she felt two males supporting her, and they dragged her to the toilet. However, she could not remove her clothing. She lacked energy and lost consciousness while she was sitting against the wall by the toilet. When she woke up again, she found she was lying on a bed in the detention center office.

She repeatedly lost consciousness and woke up. She was not taken back to her cell until midnight. The next day, Wang Yunxiu was taken to the Taiyuan City Xindian Women's Labor Camp. The labor camp saw that Ms. Wang Yunxiu was in poor health condition and asked Wang Lijun what happened. Wang Lijun untruthfully replied, "She was car sick." Since then, Ms. Wang Yunxiu has suffered from severe mental damage and her memory badly deteriorated. She felt like a big metal pan was covering her head all the time. She kept asking the others,"What drug did they inject into me?"

Mr. Chen Shaomin, a Falun Gong practitioner from Luoning County, Henan Province, has been detained in the Henan Province No. 3 Forced Labor Camp. Although his term was supposed to have ended more than one year ago, he has still not been released.

Mr. Chen has long been a victim of state sponsored persecution. He was sentenced to two terms in a labor camp and has also been illegally detained in the Luoning County Detention Center in between his two camp terms. He was put in handcuffs and shackles and forced to walk back and forth in the courtyard of the detention center.

Later, Mr. Chen was taken to the Luoyang Forced Labor Camp in Henan Province. While at that facility in 2004, he refused to renounce his belief in Falun Gong and was switched to the notorious 3rd Forced Labor Camp of Henan Province in Xuchang City in late 2005.

At noon on his first day in the forced labor camp, he tried to explain the real situation about Falun Gong to a guard named Du Zhengtao (male) whereupon two other guards, Yan Lei (male) and Xu Zusheng (male) pulled him into a room adjoining the workshop and beat him brutally. After they were finished with him, the guards did not allow him to stand, but forced him to kneel down to further torture him, although he was in extreme pain already.

At 10:30 p.m. one day, Xu Shuiwang (male), the chief of Squadron One, brought Mr. Chen out to tortured him with a mechanical device until his face was injured and swollen and his wrists were chafed and bleeding from the rope used to bind him. Xu Shuiwang also covertly encouraged some of the drug addict prisoners, including one named Nie Yong (male), to torture Ms. Chen in various ways.

In November 2005, Mr. Chen's illegal term was finally up, although he is yet to be released. Mr. Chen used to live in the countryside and was the main support of his extended family with both children and parents depending on him. Without his strong support, his family has had problems making ends meet.

Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Li Lianjun from Linghai City, Liaoning Province is presently detained in the Jinzhou City Labor Camp. When his family visited him recently, he said to them, "I almost died from the tortures." He told them that one day, he was subjected to the "Death Bed torture" at around 10:30 a.m. In order to prevent him from speaking, the guards gagged his mouth until 4:00 p.m. He has been tortured like so every day for nearly one month.

Mr. Li Lianjun's teeth, except for one tooth, are loose due to this torture. He is very thin and weak.

The gag is made by the guards out of a thick wire bent into a U-shaped device that is pressed on top of the tongue with its handle sticking out. The handle is then tied around the victim's head with strings. This torture causes practitioners to immediately gag and vomit.

On April 5, 2007, nine Falun Gong practitioners were illegally sentenced to prison by Sanhe City Court in Hebei Province.

The nine practitioner were arrested between February and July of 2006. The practitioners included Mr. Ma Weishan, Mr. Zhou Chuanzhong, Mr. Zhang Deli, Mr. Zhou Zaitian, Mr. Di Wenzhu, Ms. Bai Yanxia, Mr. Du Fucang, Mr. Liang Baotian, and Mr. Zhang Liancun. The police officers sent them to different locations including Sanhe City Detention Center, the Langfang City Brainwashing Center, and the Xianghe County Brainwashing Center and attempted to "transform" them. However, their efforts failed. Later, these practitioners were taken back to the Sanhe Detention Center.

On January 11, 2007, the authorities illegally put the nine Falun Gong practitioners on trial. The trial started at 8:00 in the morning and ended at 3:20 in the afternoon. The practitioners denied the testimonies fabricated by the police officers in court; no verdict was reached.

On April 5, 2007, Sanhe City Court tried these practitioners again. They plotted in advance how to convict and sentence them before the trial. They also did not allow the practitioners to present the facts. The trial lasted less than one hour and the judge announced the sentences in a hurry. Mr. Ma Weishan, Mr. Zhou Chuanzhong, Mr. Zhang Deli, Mr. Di Wenzhu, and Mr. Du Fucang were illegally sentenced to three and a half years in prison. Mr. Zhou Zaitian, Ms. Bai Yanxia, and Mr. Zhang Liancun were sentenced to three years in prison. Mr. Liang Baotian was sentenced to three years in prison and three years of probation.