Healthy Man Dies in Custody One Day after Being Arrested in Henan, China

On July 19, 2022, Mr. Li Guoxun, a 70-year-old man from Zhoukou City, Henan Province, the former resources director of the Zhoukou City Power Company, died a day after he was arrested for practicing Falun Gong.

The Chinese Communist Party has been persecuting adherents of the spiritual practice, also known as Falun Dafa, since 1999.

Without a search warrant, 8 officers from the Zhoukou Economic Development Zone Police Station broke into Mr. Li’s home at 11:00 a.m. on July 18, 2022. The officers claimed that Mr. Li and his wife, Ms. Yu Xiuying, had been reported for distributing Falun Gong materials (e.g., pamphlets explaining facts about the Chinese regime’s persecution of Falun Gong adherents).

The police confiscated the couple’s personal belongings, including Falun Gong books, a photograph of Falun Gong’s founder, computer, media player, cellphone, and motorcycle.

The next evening, the police released Ms. Yu and told her that her husband was seriously ill. The couple’s motorcycle and cellphone were returned.

Later Ms. Yu was devastated to learn that the police had called her son, announcing that Mr. Li had “died from a stroke.” Ms. Yu and her son were not allowed to see Mr. Li’s body. The police said that they had already taken Mr. Li to the local funeral home and had him cremated, a common tactic used by the Chinese Communist Party police to hide evidence of torture and forced organ harvesting.

Forcible and nonconsensual cremation is a common tactic by the Chinese authorities to hide traces of torture and forced organ harvesting.

Ms. Yu said that her husband had been very healthy for more than 20 years, especially after they had started practicing Falun Gong. She suspects her husband was tortured to death.