Harbin Family Suffers Second Death from Torture
51-year-old Falun Gong Practitioner Died Last Month; Brother-in-law died in 2007; Wife still imprisoned, at risk of torture
New York—A Falun Gong practitioner imprisoned in Harbin’s Daqing Prison died on May 23, 2009 due to abuse in custody, the Falun Dafa Information Center recently learned. Mr. Li Min (??) died at the age of 51, after being tortured and denied medical care when he suffered the symptoms of a stroke.
Li is just one of several family members who have been victims of severe rights abuses at the hands of the Chinese authorities because of their identity as Falun Gong practitioners. In 2007, Li’s brother-in-law died in custody at a labor camp after being tortured. Li’s wife is currently imprisoned in Harbin’s Women’s Prison and at risk of abuse.
“Falun Gong spread in the 1990s primarily by word of mouth as people saw their relatives and friends’ health and outlook on life improve. So it was not uncommon for multiple members of one family to take up the practice,” says Falun Gong spokesperson Erping Zhang. “But that’s also why – ten years into a brutal persecutory campaign – it is not uncommon for multiple members of a single family to have been killed, tortured, or imprisoned.”
“The story of Li Min and his family is not an exceptional case. Rather, it is a microcosm of the way in which the CCP’s campaign against Falun Gong has targeted one of the most fundamental units of Chinese society, making forced separation, torture, and death a daily reality for millions of families across China.”