Dear Mom! Where Can I find you now?

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February 29, 2000 | Zhang Xue-ling

February 21, 2000, my mother died after three days of torture by the Chinese communist authorities, just because she was a Falun Gong practitioner.

My mother, Ms. Chen Zi-xiu, 59, was a villager of Xu-jia Small Village, Bei-guan Street, Wei-fang City, Shan-dong Province. She was a Falun Gong practitioner.

On February 16, 2000, when my mother was walking on the Fu-shou Street, she encountered Party Secretary Li, who was "the official in charge of Falun Gong problem" in Bei-guan street office. Li arrested my mother and took her to the Bei-guan police station for interrogation and body search (during the "Two Conferences" -- the People's Congress Conference and the Political Consultation Conference, local governments are ordered to pay special attention to Falun Gong practitioners). On that evening, she was detained by Li-cun Village Committee. Around 8:00pm, my mother left the place. On the afternoon of February 17, Party Secretary Li met my mother again on the way to the train station. He immediately called in police and took her to the "Falun Gong Detention and Transformation Center" of Cheng-guan street office. They also demanded our village committee to pay RMB 2000 as the "detention fee".

At 7:00am on February 18, my family received a phone call. The caller claimed that he was calling from the local police station, and asked us to prepare a quilt and RMB 1,000 as catering and lodging fee. We had some doubt and made a phone call to the He-bei-guan police station to ascertain whether they called us. But they denied calling us. At night, someone called us again, asking whether things were ready. From the other side of the line also came my mother's voice: "Bring me a quilt. They asked for RMB 1,000. Give it to them. Other things can be put aside, but the money is critical. I am in No.1 Building of Zhuang-zhong-yuan."

On February 19, when I was still hesitating whether we should pay the money, I received a phone call from a female: "Hello, please wait on line." Then I heard my mother's trembling voice indicating severe suffering: "However much money they want, give it to them quickly. Bring me a quilt." I suddenly felt that something was wrong (I had learned that Wei-chen District had set up 6-7 similar detention centers, where extremely cruel tortures were being used to force Falun Gong practitioners to recant their spiritual beliefs).

On the noon of February 20, I brought what I prepared and went to Zhuang-zhong-yuan detention center. Some people came out to collect the money. But I did not see my mother. In front of the gate was a police car. Back home, a person newly released from the center told me: "The torture inside was absolutely unbearable. Nobody could stand it and almost everyone wrote the pledge of giving up Falun Gong. There are still 4-5 people detained there". On that evening, I could not take it easy and went with my elder brother to the detention center. But we were not allowed in.

On the morning of February 21, I called the City People's Congress and expressed my worries and concerns. But people there told me that they had no control over the issue.

On the evening of February 21, around 7 o'clock, our village Party Secretary Yu Le-zheng, without giving any reasons, took my elder brother and me in a car to Room 206 (2nd floor) of Jin-hai Hotel, where 30 people were already there, including local police, village and street officials and district authorities. We were told that my mother died a "normal death" from a "heart attack" at 9:00 that morning.

An uncle of mine, Mr. Chen Zi-he, came here too. These people did not allow us to make phone calls or to go home. They refused to tell us where my mother's body was placed, nor did they permit us to have a look at her body or to leave the hotel. My brother and I tried several times to break out of the crowd, but were forced back by the security members. During that period, Director Wang of the Municipal Hospital came in and told us that my mother died a "normal death" from a "heart attack". The head of the District Public Security Bureau, Mr. Liu, told us that we should ask the higher authorities for instructions and comply with their instructions. At 12:37am, under my frenzy request, they allowed the three of us to leave the hotel and to see the corpse the next day.

Around 8:00am on February 22, we went to the Municipal Hospital. The Hospital was imposed a curfew by the police. Around 30 policemen guarded the mortuary. About 10:00am, accompanied by emergency-room physician Wang Jin-li, we entered the mortuary. At the southwest corner of the yard piled my mother's clothes. About 40 of my family members and relatives witnessed with their own eyes the horrible sight of my mother's body. She had been dressed in funeral clothes and put on makeup. When we opened her clothes, we saw big black and purple patches all over her body except the front upper part. There were bruises everywhere. Even her ears were dark purple in color. Her teeth were broken. Although she had been addressed with makeup, there was still blood left. In the yard, her clothes, quilt and underwear were covered with feces. Almost all her clothes were cut into pieces by scissors.

The physician said, "When arriving here, she was cold dead." Although we had taken pictures, we still hoped to have video documents. When I notified video cameramen to come, however, the policemen surrounded us. The Branch Security Bureau head Mr. Liu seriously warned us that we could not go in. When I asked him why I was not allowed in if my mother died a "normal death", he answered that he was carrying out orders from higher authorities. The "higher" authorities included the city government leaders. Then I asked him: "As you law-enforcing people are abusing your power, why do you still accept orders from the administrative governmental departments?!" Although he did not find words to answer, we could not get in with almost 30 policemen blocking the way. Later on, we saw legal doctors come and examine the corpse while we were forced to stay outside. Back home, I suspected that policemen had tortured my mother to death and reported the case to the District Procuratorate. But nothing happened.

Afterwards, street authorities did some "consolation" work on us. At around 10:00pm that evening, Bei-guan street office sent us a letter from the Municipal Hospital, which reads (with copy verification):

Bei-guan Street Office, Wei-chen District: Villager Chen Zi-xiu of your district died of a sudden heart attack despite rescue efforts in our hospital at 9:30am on Feb. 21, 2000. Her body has been stationed in our hospital for over 30 hours. It has already shown body spots and started to degenerate. Our hospital can no longer keep the body properly. Please quickly notify her family members to transfer the body to the undertaker's.

Wei-fang Municipal Hospital February 22, 2000

That night, we agreed with the advice to refrigerate the body, and decided to do so the next day. By then, we clearly realized that all our basic legal demands had to be subject to the orders from authorities. From that day on, my mother's body has been kept by the Public Security Bureau and my family has been under surveillance by the authorities 24 hours a day.

On February 23, around 7:00am, more than 20 of my family members and relatives waited in front of the mortuary for permissions from the "higher" authorities to get in. We hoped to dress my mother with clothes made by her own children before she was refrigerated. In the minus 6 Celsius degree temperature, my family, with the aged and the young, waited until 11 o'clock before the permission was granted from the public security criminal bureau.

At 4:00pm that afternoon, the Procuratorate informed us that police had not beaten my mother, and the Procuratorate had transferred the case to the Public Security Bureau. At 5:00pm, the District Public Security Bureau and District Procuratorate jointly started the case investigation and notified us that the body would be jointly examined by 10 legal doctors from the Provincial, Prefectural and Municipal levels on the afternoon of the February 24. On that afternoon, body examination was conducted. The legal doctors drew a brief conclusion: "From the appearance, beating damages were light and not serious enough to lead to death. Basically the possibility of being beaten to death is eliminated and it is not necessary to keep the body any longer." We knew little about medical science. But in lack of a result, we felt an unfulfilled obligation to the dead and rejected the demand that the body be cremated.

Later on, we learned some information about how my mother was brutally tortured during those 3 days. We also learned the inhumane and insane manners displayed by some "working staff" representing the government. They once roared, "Anyone who want to be freed must write the pledge of giving up Falun Gong. Those who do not write the pledge will die normal deaths. They are out dead. Whoever wants to hang oneself will be given a rope. If anything, even we are jailed, we'll go in today, and come out tomorrow." At the same time, we got to know who they were and who were behind them.

We hoped very much to talk with the people witnessing my mother's sufferings in those 3 days. However, fearing that we might bring trouble to them, we refrained from doing so. We wanted to hire a lawyer. But we were told that to handle any Falun Gong related cases, the lawyers must first obtain permission from the Judicial Bureau. We are very clear what a complicated situation we are facing. Too many people had told us that we had no way to get the justice. I understand that they were of kind will. We know that Falun Gong practitioners would support us to get the justice. But we are afraid that the consequence might be another tragedy, or another "normal death".

Some of my thoughts: I do not intend to say anything, or do anything for Falun Gong. I am not a Falun Gong practitioner myself. I simply want to tell some facts I know:

My mother's good health was obvious to all people around her. She had such an admirably healthy body that she had not taken any medicines or seen any doctors, because she had no diseases at all. I respect her choice of belief. Her kind-heartedness, selflessness and straightforwardness were highly regarded by all around her. We memorize and miss each and every day of her 20 years of widowed and seasoned life. We admire her strong will, her personality and her spirit. All the people around her knew that she was a good person. But her end was such a saddening one.

As her child, so long as there is a single day I am alive in this world and cannot get justice for my mother, I cannot face up to my conscience. My heart cannot find peace.