High-profile torture victim called "a saint" by leading Chinese
attorney
NEW YORK - Ms. Wang Yuhuan, a well-known Falun Gong
adherent from the northeastern Chinese city of Changchun, has died of suspected
abuse while in police custody, the Falun Dafa Information Center reported
Tuesday. Wang, a prisoner of conscience, had previously been arrested twelve
times by Chinese authorities on account of her religious beliefs, and tortured
extensively.
"No
one who has not personally experienced such pain can
imagine how much it hurts."
-Wang Yuhuan, before her death. Read her personal
account of torture endured in 2005. |
|
|
Wang's family report that she passed away on September 24 after having been
transferred to Changchun City Central Hospital. It is believed she was removed
to the hospital following torture and abuse at the hands of authorities. Chinese
police regularly send victims of rights abuses to hospitals or return them to
their families when death appears imminent, hoping to avoid the additional
scrutiny likely following a death in penal facilities. Wang's family were not
notified of her death until October 9, more than two weeks after her death.
According to sources close to Wang, she had been in captivity
since May 9, when she was arrested along with another 38 Falun Gong adherents in
Changchun who were assembling to exchange views and experiences related to the
practice of Falun Gong and local efforts to counter official propaganda and
rights abuses. Officials from the Jilin Province Public Security Bureau,
Changchun City Police Department, and the Erdao District Police Department were
said to have orchestrated the arrests.
Changchun authorities are said to have conducted a manhunt
throughout the city, arresting an additional 32 adherents thought to be
associated with the planned gathering. A number of homes were reportedly raided
and ransacked by police, driving local followers of the Falun Gong from their
homes and likely into lives of destitution. The Information Center is
particularly concerned for the welfare of Feng Liping, who local sources
indicate has been subjected to severe physical abuse while in police custody;
Feng is said to have lost use of one of his arms, with family being forced to
cover related medical costs.
Wang Yuhuan's travails gained international attention
following an open letter to Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao
by prominent Beijing attorney Gao Zhisheng, published in December of 2005. In
the letter Gao details Wang's removal by police to a mountain torture chamber
two hours outside of Changchun. There, Wang was subjected to a litany of inhuman
and degrading abuses, including sexual assault by male police; frequent
beatings; burning (to the eyelids) with cigarette butts; the puncturing of
eardrums with bamboo picks; electrocution with batons; and injections with
unknown drugs and substances, among other measures. Wang said of the abuse, "No
one who has not personally experienced such pain can imagine how much it hurts."
Around the time of her conversations with Gao, Wang made
public, in her own account, the gut-wrenching details of the abuses she
suffered. (link)
Gao has referred to Wang as "a saint who survived the torture
rack." Gao had interviewed Wang in person while investigating abuses against the
Falun Gong in northeastern China for two weeks in November and December of 2005.
Gao was accompanied on the fact-finding mission by Jiao Guobiao, then a
distinguished professor of journalism at Beijing University.
The Information Center remains particularly concerned about
Feng Liping and other Changchun Falun Gong adherents arrested May 9, most of
whom the whereabouts and welfare of are unknown.
###
NEWS - Oct. 16, 2007
Falun Dafa Information Center, www.faluninfo.net
Background
Founded in 1999, the Falun Dafa Information Center is a New York-based
organization that documents the rights violations of adherents of Falun Gong (or
"Falun Dafa") taking place in the People's Republic of China. In July of 1999
China's autocratic Communist Party launched an unlawful campaign of arrests,
violence, and propaganda with the intent of "eradicating" the apolitical
practice; it is believed certain leaders feared the influence of the practice's 100
million adherents. The campaign has since grown in violence and scope, with millions
having been detained or sent to forced labor camps. The Center has verified
details of over 3,000 deaths and over 63,000 cases of torture in custody (reports
/ sources).
Falun Gong is a traditional-style Buddhist "qigong" practice, with roots in the
Chinese heritage of cultivating the mind/body for health and spiritual growth.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT THE FALUN DAFA
INFORMATION CENTER- Contacts: Gail Rachlin 917-757-9780, Levi Browde
646-415-0998, Erping Zhang 646-533-6147, or Joel Chipkar 416-709-8678. Email: contact@faluninfo.net,
Website: http://www.faluninfo.net/
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