Mr. Guo Hanpo (???)

[Refer to point C on China map]

Status: Tortured to death

Gender: Male

Age: 56

City: Wangguantun village, Nanchentun township, Cangzhou city, Hebei province

Former Workplace: Owner of “Genuine Jewelry Store” on Shuxi Street, Cangzhou City

Date of Most Recent Arrest: July 22, 2001

Date of Death: April 5, 2008

Last Place Detained: Baoding City Prison, where he was serving an 11-year sentence

Known Acquaintances Overseas:  None

Details:

In the early morning of April 5, 2008, Guo’s family received a notice from Baoding Prison, saying that Guo was receiving emergency treatment. Prison officials instructed his family to come see him as soon as possible. They rushed to the hospital, but Guo was already dead.

In his town, Mr. Guo was a well-known silver craftsman. In the summer of 2000, Mr. Guo opened his “Genuine Jewelry Store” on Shuxi Street. The income from his business provided for his elderly mother and him.

In March 2001, police from Cang County ransacked his store, and looted over three thousand yuan ($440 USD) worth of jewelry. On July 22, 2001, officers who had been following Mr. Guo took him into custody, detaining him at the police department’s Violence Prevention Division. He was tortured, deprived of sleep for days, handcuffed with his arms behind his back in an excruciatingly painful position, beaten, and shocked with electric batons.

After being imprisoned for a year at the Cangzhou City Detention Center, police sentenced him to 11 years in prison without notifying his family, and secretly took him to the Baoding City No. 1 Prison. There, Mr. Guo was forced to perform slave labor in the prison’s ceramic factory while surviving on semi-starvation rations and enduring repeated brainwashing session. Mr. Guo became very thin and frail, and died on April 5, 2008.