Jiang Zemin’s Persecution of Falun Gong Leads to Five More Deaths

NEW YORK (FDI) — Four Falun Gong practitioners in China have died from torture or other mistreatment received in Chinese prisons, and a fifth died while trying to escape police who were attempting to detain him because of his Falun Gong practice.

Mr. Yu Yongquan, (45) was an employee of Daqing City No.2 Rice Plant. Just over a year ago, on March 11th, 2002, he was kidnapped by Daqing police and taken to Rangqu District Detention Center.

The police searched Yu’s home and prevented his wife from going to work. On September 22, 2002, the Rangqu District Court in Daqing City sentenced Yu to 10 years in prison. His family wasn’t notified of the prison sentence and they had no idea where Yu was being held. They later found out that he had been transferred to Daqing City Red Satellite Prison. However, even after Yu’s family found out where he was, the prison staff wouldn’t allow them to visit.

On March 8th, 2003, Yu’s wife received a notice to come to the prison. When she arrived, her husband was dead. The prison staff told her that her healthy husband had died of a cerebral hemorrhage, however, when his wife took a closer look at Yu’s body, she discovered that his skull was soft.

Ms. Zhang Zhenqui, (43) a worker in the Changchun Tire Factory, was turned in to the police on February 20, 2003 for preparing materials explaining the true situation of Falun Gong’s persecution for public distribution. She was tortured so severely in the police station and the Kuancheng District Public Security Bureau that she had to be sent to the Armed Police Hospital for emergency treatment. Ms. Zhang died in the hospital and the police cremated her on February 25th before her family could see the body. The police then ordered her family to pay the cremation fees.

Mr. Sun Fanzhe, (34) was a worker in the Harbin City Cement Factory. Police trapped Mr. Sun inside a rented room on February 20 and 21, 2003. When Mr. Sun tried to escape from the room, he fell from a window to his death. Two of his fellow workers, Liu Qi and Liu Hongtao, were arrested at the same time.

Mr. Wang Wenxue, (63) from Pingfang District, Harbin City, was a retired worker from Harbin Aircraft Manufacturing Company. On June 1st, 2000, Mr. Wang was detained at Pingfang Police Substation and held for 15 days. The guards stripped him naked, forced him to lie on the cement floor and then ordered other inmates to beat him up. Fearing that he would die in their custody, the police released Mr. Wang Wenxue, and he died less than a month afterward.

Ms. Yin Ling, a resident of Shuangyashan City No.579 Farm, Heilongjiang Province, was imprisoned for practicing Falun Gong. She died on December 11, 2002. Further details of her case are under investigation.