As the Beijing Olympics approach, illegal arrests, torture-related deaths and even executions are on the rise. This is said to be directly related to secret orders issued by the CCP on February 19, 2008. This article includes a summary of six recent practitioner deaths.

Mr Yu Zhou was reported dead on February 9, 2008, eleven days after being detained in Tongzhou District Detention Center. His family's request for an autopsy has been denied. His wife is being held in Beijing City Detention Center.

Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Gu Jianmin was arrested on March 1, 2008 by Yangjing Police Station in Pudong New District. They tortured her until she died on March 13, 2008. Her husband was notified to come in to apply for a 'medical parole' when she was already dying, in order to avoid responsibility for her death.

As the Olympics Approach, CCP Issues Secret Order to Intensify the Persecution of Falun Gong

The CCP Political and Judiciary Committee issued secret orders in the form of a document titled "Suggestion to maintain social stability and ensure the safety of the Olympics." The document was sent to forty province-level CCP administrative offices and "Offices that deal with Falun Gong."

The document essentially orders CCP authorities around the country to "intensively deal with problems," "to enhance 'management' of the activities of foreign reporters coming for the Olympics," "to enhance the 'management' of internet and cell phone text messaging", and to "severely crack down on Falun Gong." It is widely known that the term "management" used in this context means to monitor and control, using every means at their disposal, to achieve CCP goals.

The document emphasized the "investigation and control" of certain groups of people, including Falun Gong practitioners.

The document also instructed each province to set up specific control targets and to designate responsibilities region by region. Responsibilities should be set region by region, quotas established, and specific tasks assigned to each individual work unit and person within.

Since the order was given, the Minghui/Clearwisdom website has received news of many new incidences of persecution, including those leading to death:

(1) Mr. Zhang Zhijun, a practitioner from Nanchong City, Sichuan Province, died under mysterious circumstances in Xi'an Prison in Shanxi Province, on February 23, 2008. Authorities notified his wife by telephone, but when she arrived at the prison, officials tried to block her from seeing Mr. Zhang's body. Only when she threatened to kill herself on the spot if they didn't obey her demands, was she allowed to see the body. Mr. Zhang's face was swollen. Strangulation marks were visible around his blackened neck. Mr. Zhang's wife demanded an autopsy and went to a law office, but the lawyers told her: "The government has told us [not to accept Falun Gong related cases]. We don't dare to take your case." Prison authorities cremated Mr. Zhang's body the next day.

(2) Mr. Chen Bofeng, 43, was a taxi-driver in Chaoyang City, Liaoning Province. February 24, 2008, the police stopped his cab and kidnapped both him and his customers. On March 3, Mr. Chen was transferred to the First Detention Center of Chaoyang City. That night, he was tortured to death. The authorities have refused permission for his family to see the body. The authorities (including Chaoyang Police Department, Police Bureau of Liaoning Province, Political and Legal Sect of Chaoyang City, and the detention center) have collaborated in efforts to cover up the truth of the situation, and all claim that Mr. Chen died of heart problems. Yet Mr. Chen's wife says that Mr. Chen was very healthy and had never experienced heart problems.

(3) Ms. Zong Xiuxia, a practitioner from Fangzi District in Weifang City, Shandong Province, was on her way to a supermarket on February 24, 2008. Along the way, she clarified the truth to people she encountered on the street. At about 11:30 am, the police picked her up and took her to Guangwen Police Station, in Kuiwen Police Division. Four hours later, she was tortured to death.

(4) Policemen from Xinzhan Police Station kidnapped Mr. Wang Guiming, a practitioner from Tonghua City, Jilin Province, on February 27. They took him to Chaoyanggou Forced Labor Camp. He was dead two days later (February 29), tortured to death at the age of 38. Mr. Wang's wife tried to seek justice for him, but authorities from the local police station and the neighborhood administration office harassed her. She doesn't dare return home.

(5) Police from Yangping Police Station in the Pudong District of Shanghai kidnapped Ms. Gu Jianmin, 53, on March 1. She was dead less than two weeks later. Early in the afternoon of March 13, the 610 Office in Pudong District called Ms. Gu's husband. They lied to him, saying that Ms. Gu had health problems and that they promised to release her on bail. Her husband found her in the emergency room of a local hospital at 3 p.m. that same afternoon. Her eyes were enlarged and blood ran out of her mouth, but nobody was paying attention to her condition. He got down on his knees and begged the doctors to save his wife, so the doctors made some futile efforts, but shortly thereafter announced her death.

(6) Mr. Sun Guanzhou, a 62-year-old practitioner from Yuzhou City, Henan Province, was eating dinner at home on March 3. Six policemen including Xia Yuxiao, Gong Songtao, Zhao Naicheng, broke into and searched his home. They seized Mr. Sun and took him to the city detention center. He died from torture seven days later (March 9). Mr. Sun was a professor in a teachers' college in Yuzhou City.

Here are a few examples of persecution that have come to the attention of the Minghui/Clearwisdom website since the secret order was issued:

(1) In the districts of Beijing where the Olympic games will be held, 156 cases of persecution of Falun Gong practitioners have been reported this year-to-date through March 11. Sources indicate that the police started more intensive monitoring of Falun Gong in August 2007. It is reported that the illegal arrests so far this year have been made to help ensure that local Falun Gong practitioners won't be able to make their plight known to Olympic visitors.

(2) On February 25, 2008, the police simultaneously began rounding up Falun Gong practitioners in many cities in Liaoning Province, including Lingyuan, Jinzhou, Huludao, Chaoyang, Xingcheng, Xuizhong, Panjin, Jincheng, etc. It is believed that the Police Bureau of Liaoning Province coordinated this. About one hundred practitioners (including practitioner family members who went to visit their detained relatives in Masanjia Forced Labor Camp) were arrested.

(3) On February 27, the 610 Office of Dehui City, Jilin Province, Dehui Police Department, colluded with Changchun Police Department to arrest over ten local Falun Gong practitioners. All were detained in Dehui Detention Center. According to reliable sources, the police have been torturing the detained practitioners with very brutal methods.

As early as 2005, Liu Jing, the Vice Minster of the National Public Security Minstry, ordered police forces to eliminate Falun totally before the Beijing Olympics. His orders were disseminated throughout the police system all over the country. In March 2007, Zhou Yongkang, then head of the National Public Security Minstry, also gave orders to destroy Falun Gong, leading to many serious cases of persecution nationwide.

The Beijing Olympics have been turned into a big "excuse" for the CCP to persecute Falun Gong practitioners.

Musician Mr. Yu Zhou Tortured to Death, His Wife Detained

Mr. Yu Zhou and his wife, Xu Na, both practitioners, lived in Beijing. On January 26, 2008, police blocked their vehicle on their way home, arrested them, and took them directly to the Tongzhou District Detention Center. Eleven days later, on February 6, 2008, their family received notice to come quickly to visit Mr. Yu in Qinghe Emergency Center. When his family got there, Mr. Yu was already dead, and his body was covered with a white sheet. A breathing machine mask was still on his face, but his legs were ice cold. The doctor told his family that he died from being on a hunger strike with diabetes, but his family said he had been very healthy and didn't have diabetes. The police requested a quick cremation of his body, but his family refused and asked to have an autopsy done. Their request was denied. The police threatened his family that if they "made trouble," their freedom would be restricted. The police first were going to allow his wife to attend the funeral, but then changed their mind and said she was not allowed. She was quickly transferred to Beijing City Detention Center (the so called "the 7th Division of  Beijing City Police Department," which normally detains severe criminals). Mr. Yu's body is still in Qinghe Emergency Center.

 

Mr. Yu graduated from the French Department at Beijing University, was fluent in several languages, and was very artistic. He participated in the translation work for the French version of "Zhaun Falun." He had a good voice and sang with a band at hotels. He was on his way home from a performance when he and his wife were arrested. Ms. Xu Na is an expert on painting and packaging decorations. The couple had been detained multiple times, their vehicle confiscated, and their home ransacked.

Ms. Gu Jianmin Dies after Thirteen Days in Custody in Shanghai

Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Gu Jianmin, 53, lived in the 13th Building-Apt. 601, 400 Lane, Yangguangxincun Neighborhood, Qishan Street, Pudong New District. She was sent to a forced labor camp for one year in June 2006 for clarifying the truth. On March 1, 2008, she was again arrested by officers from the Yangjing Police Station in Pudong New District, and they tortured her until she died on March 13, 2008.

On March 13, 2008, an agent of the Pudong New District 610 Office called Ms. Gu's husband, saying that she was not well, and that he should come and process a medical parole. They even asked which hospital he wished to take her to, then they deceived her husband into going to the Pudong New District Police Department, and the Neighborhood Administration, to do the medical parole paper work. This process dragged on until 3 p.m. Some unknown person had him sign an arrest warrant during this time period. Upon arriving at the hospital, they first forced him to again sign an arrest warrant. When he found Ms. Gu in the Gastric lavage room, her eyes were protruding, pupils enlarged, and she was bleeding from the mouth, but no one was taking care of her. Her husband knelt down in front of the doctors and begged them to save his wife. The doctor conducted a rather quick attempt at a rescue, then he declared that she was dead. In such a short time of only thirteen days, a perfectly healthy person was tortured to death.

There were more than thirty "610 Office" agents present, and some of them were plainclothes officers. The hospital's security guards were waiting in the hospital room, and took Ms. Gu's body to the morgue while some of the others surrounded her husband to restrain him. Ms. Gu's husband was very angry. He loudly declared that he will find out who the killers were. All of the agents quickly fled, and only some of the plainclothes police officers were hiding in the crowd. Ms. Gu's husband could not find any of the agents. The doctor told him that Ms. Gu was dying when she arrived at the hospital. The hospital issued a dying certificate (which Chinese doctors issue to notify family about patients that are terminal), which should be signed by the immediate family, but was signed by an unknown person.

Pudong District 610 Office, and Pudong New District Detention Center are responsible for Ms. Gu's death. The crime was witnessed by doctors, nurses, patients, and their families. They took the dying Ms. Gu to the hospital, then cheated her husband by tricking him to agree to a medical parole in an attempt to clear themselves of the responsibility for her death.