Dear
Mom! Where can I find you now? ......
---
Daughter of Ms. Chen Zi-Xiu who
was tortured to death by Chinese government
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.
Dear Mom! Where can I find you now? ......
By Zhang Xue-ling (not a Falun Gong practitioner)
Daughter of Ms. Chen Zi-xiu
(Translated from Chinese original on February 29, 2000).
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