AFP: Falungong Member Kills Himself in Protest over Persecution

HONG KONG, Aug 9, 2000 -- (Agence France Presse) A member of the outlawed Falungong spiritual group has committed suicide to protest the persecution he suffered because of his beliefs, a Hong Kong-based rights group said on Wednesday.

Liu Zengqiang, a 22-year-old student from Weifang city in eastern Shandong province, hanged himself in late July to become the 27th known fatality in China's year-long crackdown on the Falungong movement, according to the Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy.

Liu, who had studied Chinese at the Weifang Teacher Training College since 1998, went to Beijing in mid-July to present a petition to the National People's Congress, the nation's highest law-making body.

Instead he was detained by the police and beaten up, receiving injuries to his head, face and neck, the center said. He was subsequently returned to his school and placed under house arrest.

College authorities presented him with an ultimatum: either he renounced his beliefs and signed a document promising not to practice Falungong in the future, or he would be thrown out of school.

To protest the punishment he had received for exercising what he considered his constitutional right to present petitions to his country's lawmakers, Liu hanged himself inside the school compound on July 22, the first anniversary of the government's ban of Falungong.

Before he died, he had written, with his own blood, "Falun Dafa (Falungong) is good," on the shirt he was wearing.

Liu is the eighth Falungong member from Shandong province reported to have died since the government crackdown, and the fourth in Weifang city alone.

Falungong practices a combination of Buddhist, Taoist and Confucian teachings that advocate high moral values and clean living through daily group meditation and breathing exercises. [Editor's note: There are no any breathing exercises involved in Falun Dafa's exercise practice.]

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The center estimates some 10,000 Falungong followers have been sentenced without trial to the administrative punishment of "reform-through-labor," with Falungong followers in every one of the nation's 300 labor camps.

Meanwhile some 450 Falungong followers and leading members of the group have been sentenced in Chinese courts to up to 18 years imprisonment, the center said, while more than 600 followers have been detained in mental institutes.

AP: China [Falun Gong] Member Said a Suicide

The Associated Press Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2000

BEIJING -- A member of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement committed suicide by hanging to protest mistreatment by the authorities, a human rights group said Wednesday.

Liu Zengqiang, a 22-year-old student from Weifang in eastern China's Shandong province, was arrested when he went to Beijing in July to protest the government's year-long crackdown on Falun Gong, the Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said.

After being beaten by police, Liu was transferred back to his college in Weifang where school officials threatened him with expulsion if he didn't promise to renounce the spiritual movement, the Hong Kong-based group said.

Liu committed suicide in protest July 22, the first anniversary of the government ban on Falun Gong, the group said.

At least 27 Falun Gong followers have died in detention in the past year, the group said.

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Reuters: Falun Gong student in China commits suicide

Wednesday, August 9, 2000

BEIJING, (Reuters) - A college student member of the banned Falun Gong spiritual group hanged himself to protest against a severe police beating, a Hong Kong-based human rights group said on Wednesday.

Liu Zengqiang, a student at Zibo Normal University, [Editor's note: Liu is actually a student of the Weifang Teacher Training College] hanged himself on his campus in Shandong on July 22 to protest against a police beating he received after refusing to stop practising Falun Gong, the Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said.

Liu, 22, became the eighth Falun Gong follower from the eastern province of Shandong to die under police pressure and the 27th Chinese adherent to perish since China banned the group last year, it said.

Most have died of beatings in police custody, but several have succumbed to forced medication or forced feeding to halt hunger strikes.

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Hundreds of Falun Gong members marked the first anniversary of the July 22 ban with protests last month in Tiananmen Square that were quickly suppressed by police.

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U.S. Falun Gong practitioners say tens of thousands of group members had been arrested or detained since the ban, and at least 5,000 sent to labour camps without trial.

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Category: Deaths