More Details about the Death of Dafa Practitioner Mr. Liu Yan in Qing'an County, Heilongjiang Province

(Clearwisdom.net) Mr. Liu Yan was born in 1969 and a Dafa practitioner from Qing'an County, Heilongjiang Province. He was laid off from a hardware company and later operated a small store as a private business. After July 20, 1999, due to long term detention, hunger strikes, brutal torture and inhuman treatment, Liu Yan's health was severely damaged. After he was released from the Suihua Forced Labor Camp and treated in the hospital for several months, he finally passed away due to severe injuries from the persecution on July 21, 2002.

Yan Liu started cultivating in Falun Dafa in Spring 1996. He was the deputy assistant of the Qing'an County practice site before July 20, 1999. Since he began to practice Falun Dafa, he was always diligent in his practice and belief. Giving back to the local community, he voluntarily cleaned the public restrooms located near his home every day for several years, unselfishly, in order to benefit others.

After the suppression of Falun Gong began on July 22, 1999, Liu Yan went to the government office of Heilongjiang Province in Harbin City to appeal peacefully. He was sent back to the Qing'an County and was illegally detained by the County Police Department for more than 20 days. The County Propaganda Department wrote an article that defamed Falun Gong and forced Liu Yan to read it against his will on TV. They didn't release him until he had endured huge mental suffering for reading such a thing against his belief.

On October 29, 1999, Zhongxing Police Station Chief Chang Shijun, Director Wei Shuguo and other police arrested Liu Yan for the second time and detained him in the County Detention Center. Each day, only two meals were provided, and for each meal there was only one piece of steamed corn bread and a bowl of frozen vegetable soup. There was a lot of sand and grit in the steamed corn bread and it was often not fully cooked; after the vegetable soup was left to settle for a minute, it would separate into vegetable soup at the top and silt and sand at the bottom. During the day, seventeen to eighteen people were crowded in a monitored room that was smaller than 20 square meters. Everyone was forced to sit with their legs crossed and back straight, otherwise, they would be verbally abused or beaten. There was no sunlight in the monitored room, and it was dark and humid. At night, one could only lie on his side and sleep head-to-toe with the other detainees on a shared bed board that was less than ten square meters. If anyone got up at night to use the toilet, when he returned, he would have lost his spot. Liu Yan was detained in such a harsh environment for 72 days. He had suffered extensive mental and physical torture.

At the end of June 2000, another large group of Dafa practitioners in Qing'an County went to Beijing to appeal. On June 29, county police department deputy political director Wang Zhilong sent police to arrest Liu Yan for the third time to the county refuge station. With instigation from Zhongxing County Police Station Chief Chang Shijun, the police searched Liu Yan's home, turned the rooms upside-down, and cursed as they ransacked the house. (Chang Shijun is extremely vicious. He had repeatedly arrested practitioners and brutally beaten them, and he has confiscated their property many times. Almost all of the Dafa disciples living in his area have had their homes searched many times. No matter whether it was day or night, he just broke into and ransacked homes without any legal procedure. In 2002, Chang Shijun died from cancer.)

Since the suppression of Falun Gong began on July 20, 1999, Qing'an County arrested Liu Yan whenever they were worried that Falun Gong practitioners might go to Beijing to appeal. During the period when he was detained in the county holding cells, due to his trying to find an environment to study the Falun Dafa teachings and practice the exercises, he was searched many times, and his books were confiscated. In August 2000, Liu Yan and five other detained Dafa practitioners went on a hunger strike to protest. After the third day of the hunger strike, Wang Zhilong led a group of people to forcefully take Liu Yan out of the monitoring room and beat him violently, disregarding the fact that his body was already extremely weak. They verbally abused him and beat him to the ground. They left Liu Yan under the burning sun to punish him, and he was beaten and kicked until he finally lost consciousness.

On November 28, 2000, in order to protest the long-term detention that had been going on for over five months, the practitioners went on a hunger strike together. Wang Zhilong took Liu Yan and others out, and used bamboo sticks to beat them and also insulted, cursed and force-fed them. The practitioners were tied to chairs and immobilized. Wang Zhilong, Ma Jiang, and two other police pinched the lower part of the cheeks, and pinched their noses to force their mouths open, and then used metal spoons or other hard objects to pry the teeth open and force-fed them, causing practitioners to almost suffocate. Some people's teeth were pried loose, both cheeks were bruised, their mouths were bleeding and were extremely painful. Liu Yan was once force-fed with a thick mixture of salt and a little water, and the fluid passed into his lung, causing him to cough up blood.

On the fifth day of the hunger strike, Dafa practitioners were injected with an unknown substance against their will that the police claimed was glucose. The injections caused all of the practitioners to exhibit various alarming symptoms. Liu Yan discharged pus and blood. Some female Dafa practitioners' menstrual period turned dark green or black in color. Some lost hearing in one ear and bled from the ear, and they vomited blood. Some Dafa practitioners first drank a lot of water right after they were released, and they urinated dark fluid that looked like black ink. After Liu Yan went on a hunger strike for eight days, he was extremely weak and his life was in danger. The county government was afraid to take responsibility should he die, so they released him, but still sent company personnel to his home to watch and monitor him.

On January 17, 2001, Liu Yan and more than ten Dafa practitioners went to the rural area to distribute truth-clarifying materials. Police in Fazhan Township of the county arrested and sent them to the County Patrol Police Division. Wang Zhilong, County Police Department Political and Security Section Chief Ye Guilin, County Patrol Police Division Director Pang Shuxian and police Shang Man, Tang Hongda and others used thin rope to tie up Liu Yan and two other Dafa practitioners who were on a hunger strike, handcuffed them behind their backs and hung them up, slapped at their faces, kicked them with leather boots and struck their ribs with hard objects. They exhausted all means of brutal torture from nine o'clock in the evening until 4 o'clock next morning. They first beat a Dafa practitioner to the ground, ripped off his clothing above the waist, and started to "tighten a rope"⁽¹⁾. Even during this torture, Wang Zhilong and others took two beer bottles and inserted them between the thin rope and the practitioner's back, making the rope even tighter. Not until the person was almost dead did Wang Zhilong loosen the rope. Afterwards, Wang Zhilong cursed and kicked the Dafa practitioner, who collapsed to the ground. He kicked and beat them, and after he was tired, Pang Shuxian continued beating the practitioners. After beating them for a while, they turned to another form of physical punishment called "flying an airplane", in which the two legs are split to the extreme, the body bent forward more than 90 degrees, and both arms were lifted up from behind into an extreme position. As time went on, the legs and lower back would become fatigued and shake from the pain, and the two arms could not stay up and would start to drop down. However, if a practitioner could not hold the position and their arms started to drop, Pang Shuxian would use a broom stick to strike the back of their hands and back. Wang Zhilong would suddenly kick the practitioners' legs out from under them, causing them to fall down. Since the practitioner's arms were extended behind him, the practitioner would not be able to break their fall. So they would land on their face on the concrete floor. Wang Zhilong would then step on the practitioners' hands and grind them with his leather boots.

Dafa practitioner Liu Yan's thumb was tied until it was injured and became disabled. One Dafa practitioner vomited blood after being beaten, and everyone was beaten so much that their bodies were covered with injuries, and their faces became swollen and deformed. A few Dafa practitioners went on a hunger strike to strongly protest against the brutality. However, Wang Zhilong, afraid that the family members would learn the details of the torture against their loved one's in the camp, secretly sent Liu Yan and five other Dafa practitioners to Suihua Forced Labor Camp for male practitioners and Qiqihar City's Shuanghe Forced Labor Camp for female practitioners. The transfer was done on the fifth day that the Dafa practitioners went on a hunger strike. It was handled without any legal procedure and without notifying family members. Because Liu Yan's injury was severe, the forced labor camp refused to receive him. The police were able to get Liu Yan detained in the forced labor camp though a favor from an acquaintance in the labor camp. Liu Yan was sentenced to a term of one and a half years. In the forced labor camp, Liu Yan went on a hunger strike for twenty-one days to protest this treatment. Due to his long-term imprisonment, protesting by means of a hunger strike, brutal punishment and inhuman torture, Liu Yan's body and mind were severely damaged. His body became extremely thin and weak, his feet were swollen, he came down with a fever, and he started to cough and vomit blood. His lungs began to swell and his life was in danger. Authorities at the Suihua Forced Labor Camp were afraid of taking responsibility should he die, and notified his family members to take him home. However, the Qing'an County "610 Office" refused to receive him, so Liu Yan was sent against his will by the forced labor camp over a great distance to his brother and sister's home in Changchun City, Jilin Province. His brother and sister immediately sent him to the hospital for treatment. He was hospitalized for a few months, which cost the family tens of thousands of Yuan in medical expenses. Due to the severity of his injuries, he finally passed away on July 21, 2002, at the age of 34.

Liu Yan's business could not run normally because he had been illegally detained for a long period of time and it was forced to close. His unjust death caused severe grief for his mother. She later became very ill and handicapped. Liu Yan is survived by his child and wife, who are faced with great difficulties due to his death.

Related units and individuals responsible for the atrocities against Dafa practitioners:

Heilongjiang Province Suihua Forced Labor Camp
Heilongjiang Province Qing'an County "610 Office"
Qing'an County Police Department, Heilongjiang Province
Qing'an County Refuge Station, Heilongjiang Province
Heilongjiang Province Qing'an County Detention Center
Heilongjiang Province Qing'an County Patrol Police Division
Heilongjiang Province Qing'an County TV Station
(Made and broadcasted news and information slandered Falun Dafa)
Heilongjiang Province Qing'an County Zhongxing Police Station
Heilongjiang Province Qing'an County Fazhan Township Police Station
Heilongjiang Province Qing'an County Police Department deputy political secretary: Wang Zhilong
(Currently Qing'an County Police Department deputy chairperson)
Heilongjiang Province Qing'an County Political and Security Section Head: Ye Guilin
(Received karmic retribution and died of liver cancer in January 2003)

Heilongjiang Province Qing'an County Zhongxing Police Station Chief Chang Shijun

(Received karmic retribution and died of lung cancer in 2002)
Heilongjiang Province Qing'an County Patrol Police Division Director: Pang Shuxian
Heilongjiang Province Qing'an County Patrol Police Division: Tang Hongda
Heilongjiang Province Qing'an County Refuge Station Chairperson: Ma Jiang (Now retired)
Heilongjiang Province Qing'an County Zhongxing Police Station Director: Wei Shuguo
Heilongjiang Province Qing'an County Zhongxing Police Station police: Gao Feng

(1) Tightening Rope: The torture method "Tightening Rope" utilizes a finger-size hemp rope soaked in water. The persecutors set it on the Dafa practitioner's neck and tightly wrap it around the arms. In order to maximize the pain for the victim, they often strip the practitioner down to his underwear. Usually, over three persecutors work together to apply this torture. When the rope reaches the wrists, it is tightened. They pull the practitioner's hands behind his back, both ends of the rope are inserted through the portion of the rope on the neck, then two persecutors forcefully pull down both ends of the rope as hard as they can and then tie it. At this time, the blood circulation is cut off and the victim will experience increased heart rate, excruciating pain in both arms and within a few minutes, heavy sweating.

In order to make sure the rope is as tight as can be, the persecutors insert glass bottles and wooden sticks under practitioner's wrists, so the rope will sink deep into his flesh. Meanwhile, they also slap the practitioner's face and shock him with electric baton(s). Each session of "Tightening Rope" lasts ten to twenty minutes. After the rope is loosened, the victim has lost the feeling in his arms, and it takes a long time to regain it. For those who have experienced this torture, their arms are often disabled in severe cases, or they cannot raise their arms or they lose some function in the arms. The marks left on the arms by the rope usually don't disappear for one or two years.

February 12, 2004