Thousands of Falun Gong practitioners have been routinely beaten while in police custody for refusing to renounce Falun Gong. Police frequently beat practitioners with plastic truncheons, wooden boards, belts, and spiked batons, to name just a few. Many practitioners have had their bones broken or have incurred internal bleeding as a result of these beatings, and dozens – if not hundreds – have died. In most cases, their bodies are hurriedly cremated to destroy evidence of abuse in custody.
Chu Congrui, 19, beaten to death while in police custody
On December 1st, 2000, Ms Chu Congrui went to Beijing to appeal to the government to stop persecuting Falun Gong. She was arrested and detained at the Haidian District Police Substation. She died at the substation on December 13th, 2000.
On December 17th, 2000, the Haidian District Police notified Ms. Chu’s family to come and claim her body.
The police claimed that Ms Chu died from fasting, but a doctor disagreed. The doctor told Ms Chu’s family that her nose was broken, her face and lips were severely swollen, her body was bloody all over, and both ears were plugged with blood-soaked cotton swabs. These signs indicated that Ms Chu had suffered horrific physical pain and mental anguish while being violently beaten before she died. On December 18th, 2000, she was cremated in Changping County in Beijing.
Ms Chu’s parents have suffered enormous sorrow and grief. When Ms Chu’s fiancé and her mother returned to Shulan City from Beijing, the local policeman tried to arrest them simply because they knew the truth of Ms Chu’s death.
In order to avoid arrest by the local police, they have both been forced to flee their homes and go into hiding.
Zhao Xin, 32-year-old female teacher beaten to death
Ms Zhao Xin a resident of Beijing, was a teacher at the Beijing University of Business and Industry. Ms Zhao Xin was arrested on June 19th, 2000, when went to Zizhuyuan Park to do Falun Gong exercises. She was sent to the Qinghe Detention Centre of the Haidian Police Department.
In the detention centre, the officers, led by Bai Gang, severely beat and tortured Ms Zhao because she refused to renounce Falun Gong. They kicked her and punched her face violently, injuring her head and left eye.
Ms Zhao went on a hunger strike to protest the maltreatment. Responding in violence, the police force-fed her and beat her with a heavy object. The beating fractured her neck vertebrae, and Ms Zhao became paralysed from the neck.
On June 22nd, 2000, Ms. Zhao was sent to the Haidian Hospital while still in shackles and handcuffs. The police ordered the hospital to perform surgery on her without informing her family.
Ms Zhao remained paralysed after the surgery and died on December 11th, 2000, after another six months of suffering.
AFP: Another Falun Gong practitioner beaten to death
BEIJING, April 25th (AFP) – A member of the outlawed Falungong spiritual movement has been beaten to death in police custody in eastern China, the 16th death of a group follower in detention in nine months, a Hong Kong-based rights group said Tuesday.
Li Huixi, 40, was detained earlier this month in Beijing after protesting against the ban on the group.
He was placed in a detention centre in Houzhen village in Shandong Province where he was beaten to death by police on April 21st, the Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said in a faxed report.
Police cremated Li's body before family members could pay their last respects. The family was given 45,000 Yuan (GBP £4,600) in compensation by the village government and told to keep silent, the centre said.
Police in Houzhen village refused to comment on the case, only saying they were "unclear" both about Li's case and how he died.
Li's death is the 16th known case of a Falungong member dying in police custody since the group was outlawed on July 22nd, the centre said.
It was also the third time police had attempted to cover up the death by cremating the body before family members could investigate the cause of death.
Last month, Zhang Zhenggang fell into a coma after he was beaten by police in Huaian, Jiangsu Province, the centre said.
He was hospitalised for five days before 60 police surrounded the hospital and cremated Zhang before he was officially pronounced dead, it added.
Late last year, Zhao Jinhua, 42, was allegedly beaten to death by police in Zhangxing, again in Shandong Province. She was also quickly cremated.
