(Clearwisdom.net) In January 2008, seven more Falun Gong practitioners in China were verified to have died as a result of persecution and torture. Six of them were women, three over the age of 50, and three died in January. Since July 20, 1999, when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began to persecute Falun Gong, at least 3,127 practitioners have died as a result of the persecution. Information about these persecution deaths came to light in spite of the media blockade in China and has been verified through unofficial channels.

This is the ninth year of this systematic, brutal persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. Nine years ago, despite the benefits Falun Gong brought to the Chinese people and society as a whole, former head of the CCP Jiang Zemin started the persecution because there were more Falun Gong practitioners than the number of people in the Communist Party. This large scale persecution has caused millions of Falun Gong practitioners to lose their jobs, homes, families, and has caused young practitioners to be expelled from schools. As a result of the persecution, tens of thousands of practitioners have become disabled or have been tortured to death. Some practitioners' organs were forcibly removed for sale while they were still alive and their bodies cremated to eliminate the evidence. This has taken place all over China and documented in 31 provinces, directly-controlled municipalities and autonomous regions.

None of this has shaken the Falun Gong practitioners' firm belief in "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance", but the scope of the terrible persecution has extended well beyond the Falun Gong practitioners. The CCP uses lies and money to deceive the international community, in addition to coercing the entire Chinese population to directly or indirectly participate in the persecution.

Today, in the name of preparing for the Olympics, which is supposed to promote world peace and human rights, the Communist regime has instead intensified the persecution. On January 24, in Beijing's Chaoyang District, Chongwen District, Shunyi District, and other areas, police again forced their way into Falun Gong practitioners' workplaces or homes to arrest them and seize their possessions. On January 25, policemen flooded the streets of Beijing, stopping vehicles and checking identification cards to try to find practitioners.

In March 2007, former Public Security Minister and current Party Secretary of the Political and Judicial Committee Zhou Yongkang initiated a new round of persecution against Falun Gong. As a result, Falun Gong practitioners were arrested in droves, and the persecution of practitioners illegally detained in prisons, forced labor camps, and brainwashing centers was escalated. More practitioners have gone missing, been seriously injured, or even killed.Out of the seven newly verified death cases, two took place in Heilongjiang Province, two in Tianjin City, and one each in Hunan Province, Jiangxi Province, and Liaoning Province.

Ms. Zhang Shujun, 47, lived in Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province.

After 4 p.m. on March 28, 2006, several Falun Dafa practitioners, including Zhang Shujun, Chen Wen, and Chen Xiangyang, were arrested at their truth clarification materials production site by police from the Qingyunpu Police Department and the Daishan Local Police Station in Nanchang city. On the afternoon of March 29, they were taken to the Daishan 510 Hotel in the Qingyunpu area and tortured for two days. Zhang Shujun was handcuffed and hung onto a security grid. Her heels could not touch the ground and her body could not remain straight (the grid and window wall were separated by only about a foot). The police broke into Ms. Zhang's home and took her bank book and cash, totaling more than 10,000 yuan.

Under orders from the chief and deputy chief of the Daishan Police Station, director Zhang Jun from the Qingyunpu Police Department and policeman Deng Xiangyang, two officers each held one of Zhang Shujun's legs and pulled them apart while violently pushing, pulling and shaking her. Ms. Zhang's lower back was badly scraped and bruised. She was repeatedly tortured for six hours. During the torture, Zhang Shujun was not allowed to close her eyes. As soon as she closed her eyes, the officers rained blows down on her. Policeman Deng Xiangyang also smashed Zhang Shujun's toes with table legs, causing them to be badly injured.

The parties directly participating in this torture also included Hu Xiaojun, Zhu Li, and chief Li (possibly from the municipal police department in Nanchang). They claimed to have sent more than fifty people to arrest practitioners.

The Qingyunpu District Court in Nanchang City sentenced Ms. Zhang to ten years in prison. She was imprisoned at the Jiangxi Province Women's Prison located in Xinjian County, Nanchang City. She endured numerous brutal tortures while she was incarcerated, and her friends and family were not allowed to visit her.

On January 4, 2008, Ms. Zhang was paralyzed and in critical condition. Guards called her family and instructed them to pick her up from the Changzheng Hospital. She was thus "bailed out for medical treatment" on the verge of death. Only 16 days later, Ms. Zhang died in her home at around 3 a.m. on January 20, 2008.

Mr. Wu Jinkui, 57, lived in Huangguan Village, Yuping Township in Pingjiang County, Hunan Province. His home was located in a poverty-stricken mountainous area. Before practicing Falun Dafa, Mr. Wu had many illnesses and had trouble maintaining basic living conditions. After practicing Falun Dafa, Mr. Wu's illnesses disappeared, and his life improved. After the persecution began in 1999, police from the Township Station and the Pingjiang County Domestic Security Division arrested and detained him multiple times.

In September of 1999, Yuping Township 610 Office agents arrested him, extorted 600 yuan from him and detained him for ten days.

In December of 2000, Mr. Wu went to Beijing to appeal on behalf of Falun Gong. Officers from the Yuping Township Station took him back and detained him in the Township Senior Center. He was physically abused by Party officials Dai Wenming, Tang Huhai, and Li Xianwen, and police officers. They beat him, hung him up by his handcuffs, starved him, deprived him of sleep, etc. Additionally, he was forced to pay 3,000 yuan to the police. Township Secretary Wong Fangping beat Mr. Wu and two other practitioners and choked Mr. Wu until he almost suffocated. Mr. Wu passed out due to the brutal beatings.

Party officials also ransacked Mr. Wu's home and confiscated his TV set, motorcycle, 110 pounds of pork, and other valuables. They even tore down his older brother's (Mr. Wu Yinkui) house and took the timber from the remains.

Mr. Wu Yinkui was held in a forced labor camp from March 28, 2001 to February 22, 2002. As a result he lost sight in both eyes, his legs were deformed and he became unable to walk. His whole body became numb and he could not take care of himself.

In April of 2003, Mr. Wu Jinkui was arrested again, detained with his brother for a month, and beaten repeatedly. His family had 500 yuan in cash extorted from them. In May 2004, Mr. Wu Jinkui was arrested once again and detained for two months.

Due to the repeated torture over the course of many years, Mr. Wu became severely injured and paralyzed. An x-ray taken in 2007 in a Changsha City hospital showed that his entire spine was deformed due to injuries. He died on May 16, 2007.

Falun Dafa practitioner Ms. Yu Fengchun, 43, lived near the Jianshan District 26th Middle School in Shuangyashan City, Heilongjiang Province. During the past eight years of persecution, she was arrested five times and detained and harassed more frequently. During her detention, her old illness recurred and she died on December 27, 2007.

Ms. Yu Fengchun suffered from ascites due to cirrhosis before she practiced Falun Gong. She became healthy after practicing Falun Gong and her illnesses disappeared. Because she firmly refused to give up Falun Gong, she was arrested on July 20, 1999 by the Jiamusi City Railroad Police Department in Heilongjiang Province. She was detained for 24 hours in the Nancha District Police Department in Yichun City and detained for another 24 hours in the Mining Bureau Detention Center in Shuangyashan City.

In March 2000, Ms. Yu Fengchun went to the city's 610 Office to call for the release of a fellow practitioner. She was then arrested by officers from the Lingdong District Police Department in Shuangyashan City, detained for 15 days and forced to pay 3,000 yuan.

On May 17, 2000, Ms. Yu was arrested for the third time by officers from the Jiadong District Police Department in Jiamusi City and detained for 15 days in Shuangyashan City. In June of 2000, agents from the Lingdong District Police Department had her sentenced to one year of forced labor at the Jiamusi Forced Labor Camp.

On January 10, 2002, Ms. Yu was arrested again at Tiananmen Square and detained for 15 days in the Huairou District Detention Center. She was detained another 15 days after being taken back to Shuangyashan City by police from the Lingdong District Department.

On May 16, 2006, Ms. Yu was arrested by officers from the Yonghong Police Station when she was clarifying the truth at the Meiqiao Shopping Center. She exhibited symptoms of ascites due to cirrhosis and was released on May 24, 2006.

For more than eight years, the local police frequently went to Ms. Yu's home to harass her. On August 31, 2007, officers from the Chang'an Station stormed into Ms. Yu's home, ransacked it, took her personal belongings and threatened her. The long-term mental and physical persecution caused her health to worsen, and she died on December 27, 2007.