(Clearwisdom.net) According to reports on Clearwisdom.net in July 2004, it was confirmed that another 19 Falun Gong practitioners have died as a result of torture in the year 2004, which brings the overall death toll to 1,016.

Nineteen torture deaths verified in China in July

In July 2004, 19 torture deaths were confirmed through non-governmental channels. Eleven of these practitioners died in 2004, and three died in July.

The deaths took place in 11 provinces and municipalities: four cases in Jilin Province, three in Liaoning Province, three in Shandong Province, two in Heilongjiang Province and one case each in Hebei Province, Beijing, Sichuan Province, Guangdong Province, Hubei Province, Hunan Province, and Chongqing City. Among the deceased practitioners were retired workers, farmers, civil servants, and teachers.

The oldest practitioner who died as a result of torture was Zhou Dehong, 78, from Quankou Village, Lanlong Township, Hengyang County, Hunan Province. The youngest practitioner was Ms. Wang Xiaodong, 34, who was a teacher at the Nantou Middle School in Shenzhen City. Eight of these practitioners were over 50 years of age, which accounts for 42% of the 19 deaths. Twelve were female, which accounts for 63% of the death toll.

Physical and mental torture was common among the cases reported in July. Many practitioners' homes were ransacked, and they were abducted and fined. They were beaten, tortured and subjected to brainwashing. They were held in detention centers, labor camps, and brainwashing classes, where local police and persecutors from the "610 Office" tortured them to try to force them to renounce their belief in Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance.

Husband tortured to death and wife sent to forced labor

Dafa practitioner Mr. Jiang Yong, 46, began practicing Falun Gong in 1996. He was from Guangming Village, Xingfu Township, Changchun City, Jilin Province, and was abducted and detained numerous times because he refused to give up his belief in Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance. He was sent to a forced labor camp, where he was brutally tortured. During the past five years, Jiang Yong had persisted in practicing Falun Gong, and had to stay away from his home to avoid being arrested there. The persecutors even sent his wife, a non-practitioner, to a labor camp for one year.

On April 13, 2004, police from the Public Security Bureau of Changchun City abducted Mr. Jiang and several other practitioners. Mr. Jiang suffered savage torture and was sent to the Tiebei Detention Center. His injuries from the torture were so severe that he was sent to the Changchun City Police Hospital on April 22, 2004, and was subsequently transferred back to the Tiebei Detention Center on May 26 for continued imprisonment.

His family's many requests to visit him were denied. During the evening of July 4, 2004, Mr. Jiang died as a result of the torture and abuse he suffered at the hands of police.

According to those who saw his dead body, there were rope marks on his neck and many dark bruises on his chest and upper back. His eyes were wide open, and blood oozed out of his mouth when his body was touched. Some tissues were placed under his rectum. Police frantically stopped people from taking photos of his body, and even beat his family members.

The officials in the Tiebei Detention Center feared their crime being exposed. In order to avoid responsibility for his death, they tried to cover up the truth by lying to his family members, saying that he died of a sudden sickness.

Mr. Jiang Yong was a very strong man, about 5' 10", and very muscular. His illnesses stopped after he began practicing Falun Dafa, and those close to him knew him as an "iron man." Yet, such a healthy man was tortured to death in less than three months.

The day after his death, his body was treated, the blood was cleaned from his mouth and the bruises were covered. There were bottles of alcohol, cotton balls, etc. all over the room. The persecutors apparently tried to destroy the evidence to cover up their crime.

Mr. Chen Fenglin dies as a result of the persecution

Mr. Chen Fenglin, 51, was a Falun Dafa practitioner from Beiyuan Village,

Laiguangying Township, in the Chaoyang District, Beijing. Since July 20, 1999, which marked the beginning of the persecution of Falun Gong, he went to Beijing many times to appeal for Falun Gong. In December 1999, he was detained and held at the Chaoyang Detention Center for one month. He then was transferred to the village party committee, where they persecuted him for over two weeks. After returning home, he was placed under constant surveillance. The police frequently climbed over the wall or onto the roof, or simply broke into his house. This severely disrupted his daily life. He went into exile, going from place to place for several months to avoid further persecution.

In January 2001, employees of the local police station and the "610 Office" arrested Mr. Chen while he was in the Green Garden in Chaoyang District. They sent him to a brainwashing center. During that time the cruel persecution affected his health. It was found that his blood pressure far exceeded normal levels, and he was taken to a hospital for emergency treatment. He lost his freedom immediately after leaving the hospital. Even during the Chinese New Year's Eve, while making dumplings at home, two policemen watched him. When he went to visit his relatives or friends, policemen followed him. Because Mr. Chen Fenglin refused to give up his belief in Falun Dafa, he was taken to a brainwashing center on July 31, 2001 by officers from the local police station and the "610 Office." In July 2003, when the police tried to send him to a brainwashing center again, he steadfastly refused. The police went to his home dozens of times to threaten him and sent people to watch him around the clock until the end of the year.

After continual imprisonment and various forms of persecution, Mr. Chen's physical and mental health had severely deteriorated. He died in the hospital on July 7, 2004.

Three teachers die as a result of torture in July; Chen Zhili served with lawsuit in Africa

Among the 19 practitioners who were tortured to death, three are grade school and middle school teachers. They are Li Guangzhen, Li Zhi, and Wang Xiaodong.

Li Guangzhen

***Ms. Li Guangzhen, 52, was an outstanding teacher at the Machang Township Center Primary School, Jianping County, Liaoning Province. Her husband, Zhou Xirong, is an English teacher in Machang Town Middle School. Because they were steadfast in their Falun Dafa practice, the police frequently searched their home. They were detained and severely beaten, and the police extorted money from them. In October 2002, the police arrested and detained them. In March of 2003, they were each illegally sentenced to a three-year prison term.

Li Guangzhen was taken to Dabei Prison in Shenyang City. She was severely tortured and thus unable to eat, and she quickly became emaciated. In October 2003, she was bailed out for medical treatment, and died on June 18, 2004. Her husband, Zhou Xirong, is now detained and tortured in Dongling Prison of Shenyang. His life is in danger, as well.

****Ms. Li Zhi was a teacher at the Wujiashan Fourth Middle School in Dongxi Lake District, Wuhan City, Hubei Province. In 2002 she went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong and was detained. Li Zhi's husband is an official working in the Labor Bureau. In order to keep his position, he often beat his wife. In the summer of 2002, Li Zhi passed away in the hospital.

Wang Xiaodong

***Wang Xiaodong, 34, was a teacher at the Nantou Middle School in Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province. She went to Beijing to appeal in 2000, and on April 29, 2000 was illegally detained in the Nanshan Detention Center in Shenzhen City, where she was beaten and tied up. In July 2003, she died from torture after holding a four-month hunger strike at the detention center. Her husband Liu Xifeng, who is also a Falun Gong practitioner, has disappeared and his current whereabouts are unknown. Their 11-year-old son Liu Xiang was sent to an orphanage in Shenzhen.

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Jiang Zemin's underling Chen Zhili started a four-day visit in Tanzania on July 17, 2004. On July 19, a group of international human rights lawyers served Chen Zhili with a lawsuit, charging her with torture and abuse of Falun Gong practitioners in the Chinese educational system. Chen Zhili personally appeared in court on July 19. This is the first time in a series of lawsuits against Chinese officials that the defendant has actually appeared in court.

On August 3, 2004, a preliminary hearing by a judge in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania's capital, cleared the way for a criminal trial of Chen Zhili. The judge's decision elevates the civil action and paves the way for a criminal trial. According to the Falun Gong practitioners' attorney, witnesses for the plaintiffs are ready to appear in court.

Every crime will be punished in due time. This lawsuit is one of the steps to bringing all of the perpetrators to justice.