Today is the 4th of July, and the bell of freedom symbolically rings across the United States.
But in China’s Heilongjiang province today–for one particular family among thousands of others, this bell rings silent.
An adherent of the Falun Gong sprititual practice and a prisoner of conscience, Qin Yueming, passed away at the age of 47 at the Jiamusi Prison on February 21, 2011. His daughter, 23-year-old Qin Rongqian, had waited nine years to see him.
Their final reunion took place after his death, when her family was called in to view his body. The viewing raised a question that Qin is yet to have an answer for: How did her father die?
Jiamusi Prison claimed a heart attack killed Qin Yueming. What the family saw suggested otherwise. Qin’s body was black and blue, his lips were bruised, and as his body was turned over, blood poured out of his mouth and nose.
When the family raised their doubts, the head of Jiamusi Prison offered to take responsibility for any wrongdoing.
[Yu Yifeng, Head of Jiamusi Prison]::
“On this issue, if your family has a thought about the cause of death, suspects a beating or other aggressive behavior which caused injuries leading to an accidental death, we will take full legal responsibility.”
This is not what happened. In September 2011, after months of local authorities refusing to investigate, the Heilongjiang Provincial Peoples High Court accepted a compensation claim filed by the family. No hearing was ever carried out and the case went nowhere.
Then in November that year, Qin’s mother and younger sister were sent to a labor camp. Their attorney, Jiang Tianyong, says an extra-government apparatus is behind the family’s persecution. The Chinese Communist Party set up the 610 Office in 1999 to specifically crackdown on Falun Gong. Qin’s family members all practice this meditation discipline.
[Jiang Tianyong, Qin Yueming's Attorney]:
“We know the 610 [Office] is behind this. After the Heilongjiang Provincial Peoples High Court accepted the case, [the office] arrested two of the plaintiffs, Qin Yueming’s wife and one of his daughters and sent them to labor camp. Now it’s not even pretending to follow the law.”
16 months after her father’s death, Qin Rongqian is still trying to find out just how he died. Now, she’s also trying to free her mother and younger sister. In May of this year, 15,000 people echoed her call, signing a petition calling for justice for the Qin family.
Qin Rongqian has now appealed directly to the Chinese leadership. On July 1st, she issued an open letter to Hu Jintao, Wen Jiabao and Xi Jinping—hoping they can step in to free her mother and sister, and to investigate the death of her father.
From -
http://english.ntdtv.com/ntdtv_en/news_china/2012-07-04/a-nine-year-reunion-that-never-happened.html#video_section
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Why Jiang Zemin and CCP Persecute Falun Gong?
[VIDEO] Why Jiang Zemin and CCP Persecute Falun Gong?
