NEW YORK, January 8, 2002 (Falun Dafa Information Center)-Two Jilin Province Falun Gong practitioners died on January 1, 2002, while in police custody. According to sources inside China familiar with these cases, both had been detained only a short time and were in good health prior to being arrested.

Police informed the family of Mr. Fu Chunsheng of his death on January 1, 2002, although they were not permitted to view the body until January 5. Fu, an employee of Jilin City Water Engineering Machinery, was abducted from his home when, during a massive search-and-seizure police operation, police found Falun Gong books in his house on December 28. Fu had just been released from a labor camp sentence in September following a public appeal effort in Beijing in December 1999. The details of how he lost his life are still under investigation.

Ms. Wang Xiufen, 36, an English teacher at Jilin Province Agriculture Specialized College, lived in Zuojia Special District of Jilin province. She was seized on December 21, 2001 when distributing flyers documenting the human rights abuses against Falun Gong practitioners in Tumenling Town of Jiutai City in the Changchun area. She was then detained at the Jiutai Detention Center. She went on a hunger strike and, on January 1, died from injuries inflicted during forced-feeding. According to sources in China, police put pressure on her family to remain silent about the death.

An employee at Wang's college confirmed her death to reporters, adding that she was "quite good" as a teacher, but had not worked since being sent to the detention center.

Jilin Province, the province where Falun Gong was first publicly taught, has been especially hard hit by the persecution campaign against Falun Gong. At least 36 Falun Gong practitioners are verified to have died in Jilin Province alone since the persecution began. This is more than 10% of the total 336 deaths that have been verified since 1999.

As of October, 2001, Chinese government sources say the actual number of Falun Gong practitioners that have died due to torture and mistreatment in police custody exceeds 1,600.