Mr. Qin Yueming, 47, Heilongjiang

Name: Qin Yueming (??? )
Gender: Male
Age: 47
Date of Most Recent Arrest: April 2002
Date of Most Recent Release: Died in custody
Date of Death: February 26, 2011
Province: Heilongjiang
City: Yishan
Address: Xiangyang Street, Jinshantun Area
Most Recent Place of Detention: Jiamusi Prison (?????) in Lianjiangkou, Heilongjiang

Case details:

Mr. Qin Yueming was abducted from his home in April 2002. He was severely beaten and tortured on a tiger bench, to the point that his ribs and legs were broken and he was unable to walk. Nevertheless, he was later sentenced  to ten years in prison in proceedings whose results were pre-determined by Communist Party officials. He was taken to Jiamusi Prison. Prior to this detention, Qin had spent three years in Yichun RTL Camp where he was tortured because of his practice of Falun Gong.

On the evening of February 26, 2011, Qin’s wife received a phone call from Jiamusi Prison informing her that Qin had died. The prison personnel said it was from a sudden heart attack. She was summoned to come to the prison to complete the “necessary procedures.” Qin’s family went to the prison the following afternoon.

Upon arriving, Qin’s family asked to view his body. Following persistent requests, the prison authorities allowed them to see it. The family found bruises and purple marks all over his body, indicating he had suffered severe beatings. They were able to take a photo and smuggle it out of China over the internet. Blood came out of his nose and mouth when he was turned over onto his stomach. Qin’s family asked for an explanation of where the bruises came from, but the guards simply gave excuses and told them to go to the Procuratorate if they had concerns.

According to sources inside China, after receiving instructions to intensify the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners at the camp and reach an 85 percent “transformation rate,” the prison personnel set up a “Strict Management Team” on February 21. Several practitioners from different wards were taken to that section, including Qin. They were not allowed to bring with them any personal belongings. Every practitioner was watched by several criminal inmates and under constant pressure to write a statement renouncing Falun Gong.

According to reliable sources, several of the practitioners from the ward, including Qin, were taken to the prison hospital and force-fed on February 25, 2011. Qin was carried to a washroom on the first floor, where four people held down his body and another held his head. He was forced against the back of a chair. They pinched his tongue with forceps and stretched it out. Two inmates inserted a nasal tube. Zhao Wei, the prison doctor; Yu Yifeng, head of the ward; and several other guards were reportedly present. They poured milk and salt down the tube. Mr. Qin gave out sad cries. He reportedly kept crying even after he was taken back to the ward. Two of the inmates monitoring him could not sleep at night because of his crying. They asked for Zhao Wei, the prison doctor, who indicated that his suffering could be because the feeding tube was inserted into his lung rather than his stomach, but took no further action to help Qin. Qin died the following morning, only five days after being transferred to the “Strict Management Team.”

Since some Chinese prisons have installed surveillance cameras with the aim of reducing the use of torture, Qin’s family asked to see the video recording from the time Qin was transferred into the “Strict Management Team” to the time that he died. Mr. Yu Yifeng, head of the ward, agreed initially, but said he needed to check with his supervisor first. In the end, all Yu provided was the video recording from the time Qin collapsed to when he died. Qin did not move at all from the start to the end of the video and the recording shed no light on what mistreatment was inflicted on him to cause his death. In early March, the family requested a written report explaining the cause of death, but the prison refused.

Qin was 47 years old when he died. He leaves behind a wife and two teenage daughters. Since 1999, they too have been subjected to abduction and beatings.