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BBC: China's Heilongjiang Records Highest Falun Gong Death Toll
December 6, 2003, Saturday Reported by Falun Dafa Information Centre web site on 3 December One hundred and thirty-two deaths of Falun Gong practitioners in Heilongjiang
Province have been verified since the spiritual practice was ordered
"eradicated" by former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin in 1999. Of the 824
total verified deaths of Falun Gong practitioners throughout the country,
China's most northeastern province, Heilongjiang, accounts for approximately 16
per cent - the highest of any province. Hundreds of reports from China over the last four years indicate arbitrary
detention, brainwashing and torture are wide-spread in Heilongjiang. Heilongjiang's former communist party secretary, Xiu Youfang, and former
Governor, Tian Fengshan, are known to have taken a hard-line approach in
adopting Jiang's persecutory policies toward Falun Gong, according to
Heilongjiang sources. Both officials have since been removed from their posts on
apparently unrelated corruption charges. The next highest death tolls are found in Heilongjiang's neighboring
provinces of Jilin and Liaoning, each of which account for 11 per cent of the
total verified deaths. Shandong Province has also recorded 11 per cent of the total verified deaths,
with Hebei Province at 10 per cent and Beijing at 7 per cent. Approximately 75 per cent of the total verified deaths were caused by torture
and/or severe beatings, while 10 per cent were due to forced-feeding. The
remaining cases include mysterious circumstances where individuals die in mental
hospitals after being injected with unknown drugs or mysteriously
"fall" from the upper floors of buildings while in police custody. Some Chinese government sources indicate the true death toll could be between
4,000 and 10,000. Two recent deaths in Heilongjiang: Fifty-three-year-old Ms Liu Tongling
lived in Chengsan village of Rang District in Daqing city. On 12 September,
2003, Liu was detained at the Harbin City Drug Rehabilitation Centre after
authorities discovered she practiced Falun Gong. Such "rehabilitation
centers" are often, in reality, used to detain, torture, and hold
brainwashing "classes" for Falun Gong practitioners. One month later,
on 12 October, Liu died in the Rehabilitation Center. Sources familiar with this case say Liu was tortured continuously until two
days before her death. Liu's family, who examined her body, said it was covered
with bruises and there were electric burn marks on her chest. Electric shock
batons, also known as cattle prods are a common torture tool of the Chinese
police. Sixty-six-year-old Mr Li Ruqing was a retired worker from the Shangyashan
City Mine Bureau of Heilongjiang Province. On 7 October, 2002, he was arrested
while distributing flyers about Falun Gong. Li was subsequently sentenced to
seven years in prison and sent to the Mudanjiang Prison. On 9 October, 2003, Li
was tortured to death in the prison and his body was cremated shortly
thereafter. Posting date: 12/9/2003 |