The official claim of 'suicide' does not make sense given the facts. Ms. Cao's family wants an investigation of the cause of her death.

Ms. Cao Huiqin Dies As a Result of Torture after Six Days in Custody in Gansu Province

Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Cao Huiqin, in her 60s, is the wife of an employee at the 404th Factory in Jiayuguan City, Gansu Province. On December 2, 2008, during the snowstorm, officers from the 404 Factory Police Department ransacked Ms. Cao's home and arrested her. They took her computer, printer, stereo, and a DVD player. Officers interrogated her from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m. The police said they would detain her for 15 days and demanded that her family pay 1000 yuan.

On December 5, 2008, the police took her to the 404th Factory Detention Center. People were assigned to hide near her home and follow any practitioners that tried to visit or look after her husband, who does not know how to cook.

On December 8, 2008, the police said they checked on her at 9:45 p.m. and she was fine, but by 10 p.m., she had apparently hanged herself. The autopsy revealed her calm expression, rope marks on her neck, a needle puncture, and bruises on her back.

Ms. Cao's family insists that it was impossible that she committed suicide, because her expression showed no signs of a struggle and her tongue was not sticking out as would be expected in a hanging. They say it would have been impossible for her to tear the sheet, make the rope, hang herself from the ceiling, and die, all within 15 minutes.

Her family believes she was killed and the then authorities fabricated a suicide to deceive them.

On the morning of December 11, 2008, the CCP secretary at the 2nd Branch of the 404th Factory went to Ms. Cao's family to ask to settle the case privately. He quietly admitted guilt and said that those in charge wanted to compensate the family so they could buy a burial plot for Ms. Cao. The secretary asked the family to have her cremated. Ms. Cao's family is insisting on justice in the case of her death.