Crimes of Li Yi, Director of the Heilongjiang Provincial Public Security Department, in Persecuting Falun Gong

Title or Position

August 2020 – Present: Deputy Governor of Heilongjiang Province, Secretary of the Communist Party Committee, and Director of the Provincial Public Security Department
April 2020 – August 2020: Deputy Governor of Heilongjiang Province

 

Major Crimes

Since the onset of the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999, the Heilongjiang Provincial Political and Legal Affairs Committee, the 610 Office, and the public security system have closely followed the CCP’s persecution policy, making it one of the provinces with the most severe persecution and most death cases reported in the past 25 years.

After Li Yi took the position of Deputy Governor of Heilongjiang Province in April 2020, as well as the Party secretary and Director of the Provincial Public Security Department in August 2020, he continued to implement the policy of “ruining their [Falun Gong practitioners] reputation, bankrupting them, and eliminating them physically.”

During Li’s tenure, he directed the public security and judiciary systems to arrest, harass and sentence practitioners on a large scale. From April 2020 to September 2023, at least 28 practitioners were persecuted to death and many more became injured or mentally disoriented due to the torture in custody.

As the director of the Heilongjiang Provincial Public Security Department, Li actively organised activities to slander Falun Gong and incite hatred against it. in April 2021, the Heilongjiang Provincial Public Security Bureau hosted a ceremony to celebrate the launch of the anti-cult education program at Heilongjiang University.

On April 15, 2023, another ceremony for the “Anti-Cult Education Campaign” was held in the Heilongjiang Provincial Public Security Department, celebrating the wider adoption of the campaign in schools across the province, including 80 higher-education institutions and 3,055 primary and secondary schools and kindergartens.

The campaign reach 2.85 million students and 248,000 teachers. At the same time, the Provincial Public Security Department, in conjunction with the Department of Education, mailed 320 copies of defamatory propaganda materials to provincial universities.

 

Persecution in the First Half of 2023

In the first half of 2023, at least 14 practitioners were persecuted to death in Heilongjiang Province, ranking the highest among all the provinces throughout China. The number of sentenced individuals was 78, ranking the third nationwide. The number of arrested practitioners reached 161, also ranking the third in the country.

Ms. Jiang Chunmei was arrested in early February 2023. The Longjiang County Court held a hearing of her case on May 24 and sentenced her to five years in prison in early July.

On June 28, 2023, Mr. Wang Yanming was arrested at work by police from the Daqing Development Zone Public Security Bureau. The police claimed that Mr. Wang was caught on surveillance video posting truth clarifying materials near his home.

 

Persecution in 2022

In 2022, at least 22 practitioners were persecuted to death, 35 were sentenced, 477 were arrested, and 388 were harassed, making it one of the most severely persecuted regions in the country.

On July 12, 2022, police from Daqing City arrested more than a 100 practitioners, including a practitioner who was 98 years old and many other practitioners in their 70s and 80s. The police ransacked the practitioners’ homes without warrants. All items and materials related to Falun Gong were used as prosecution evidence against the practitioners. According to police, the practitioners were tracked and videotaped for over nine months.

In July 2022, at least 73 practitioners in Harbin City were arrested or harassed.

On the afternoon of August 27, 2022, at least 11 practitioners in Suihua City were arrested. According to an insider, the police began to monitor the practitioners three months earlier.

 

Persecution in 2021

In 2021, at least 24 practitioners were persecuted to death in Heilongjiang Province, ranking the second highest in the country. The number of practitioners sentenced was 125, ranking the second in the country. Another 463 practitioners were arrested and 872 were harassed, ranking the fourth in the country.

Ms. Li Shuangyan, 45, was arrested on December 16, 2021. She was interrogated and tortured for nearly 30 hours at the Fuli Police Station. When she was on the verge of death, the police ordered her husband to pick her up. When Ms. Li’s husband arrived at the police station, she was unable to walk and had to be carried out by three officers. Ms. Li died later that day.

Ms. Lin Chunzi, 80, was sentenced to four years in prison in 2021. She was allowed to serve her time outside of prison due to her poor health. On February 11, 2023, she was arrested again and taken to the Heilongjiang Province Women’s Prison days later to serve the prison sentence handed down in 2021. Ms. Li weighed less than 80 pounds and was in a wheelchair when she was taken to prison.

 

Persecution in 2020

In 2020, the CCP carried out the “zero-out” harassment persecution of Falun Gong practitioners across the country, and a large number of practitioners were arrested or harassed.

In April 2020, twelve practitioners from Xiangfang District, Harbin City were arrested over the course of two days by police from the Daqing City National Security Bureau and the Longnan Branch of Ranghu Road District. It was reported that the mass arrest was ordered by the Anti-Cult Office of the Heilongjiang Provincial Public Security Department, which directed the Daqing City Public Security Police to arrest practitioners from other regions.

On September 22-23, 2020, in a coordinated police sweep in Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province, 27 practitioners and three of their family members were arrested. It’s reported that the Provincial Political and Legal Affairs Committee and the Public Security Department were involved in this mass arrest. Practitioners who were on a “blacklist” were arrested and police received a bonus for each practitioner they caught.

 

Select Death Cases

Case 1: Ms. Teng Shuli Dies in Prison While Serving Seven Years

Ms. Teng Shuli, 53, died in Heilongjiang Province Women’s Prison on January 10, 2023. Ms. Teng was sentenced to seven years in prison and fined 80,000 yuan on June 2, 2021. After she was taken to Heilongjiang Province Women’s Prison in 2021, she was forced to watch propaganda videos demonising Falun Gong every day. She was also deprived of sleep and forced to sit on a small stool for extended hours without moving. She became so weak that she was bedridden. She was later found to have late-stage liver and rectal cancer. Her husband was denied visits despite his repeated requests. The prison also denied his request to have her released on medical parole, even when she was on the verge of death.

Case 2: Ms. Yan Jinxia Develops Cancer While in Custody, Dies Months Later

Ms. Yan Jinxia was arrested on the evening of September 22, 2020 as part of the “zero-out” harassment campaign and was sentenced to six months in prison. While being detained at the Harbin No.2 Detention Centre, Ms. Yan was forced to sit on a small stool for long hours and exposed to low temperatures, which led her to develop excessive vaginal bleeding. Although she was diagnosed with late-stage uterine cancer, the guards refused to release her and continued to pressure her to write statements renouncing Falun Gong. She was released after serving the full half-year term, and passed away several months later, on January 17, 2022. She was 59 years old.

Case 3: Ms. Cui Jinshi Dies Two Hours After She Is Arrested

On April 13, 2022, Ms. Cui Jinshi, 88, was arrested at home by a group of plainclothes policemen. Two officers dragged Ms. Cui from her apartment on the second floor to the ground floor. They suddenly let her go and she fell to the ground. At 5:45 p.m., Ms. Cui’s son got a call from the police telling him his mother had been taken to an emergency room. He rushed to the hospital. Five minutes later, the doctor came out and pronounced Ms. Cui dead. The son walked into the operating room and saw her body. Her face was pale, her throat was cut open, and she was only wearing one shoe.

Case 4: Mr. Zhong Guoquan Dies in Tailai Prison

Mr. Zhong Guoquan of Mishan City, Heilongjiang Province was arrested on March 4, 2020, for distributing informational materials about Falun Gong. He was sentenced to three and half years in prison in August. Mr. Zhong was taken to Jixi City Prison on November 17, 2020, and was later transferred to Tailai Prison, where he was tortured to death on February 6, 2022. He was 72 years old.

Case 5: Ms. Kang Aifen Dies in Detention Centre

On June 17, 2021, Ms. Kang Aifen was sent to the Jiamusi City Detention Centre. The torture she suffered there caused her to develop severe heart disease symptoms and her entire body swelled (edema). She was unable to stand or walk and was nearly blind in both eyes. She had difficulty breathing and was in critical condition. She was released on August 17 and put under house arrest. Despite her condition the police kept harassing Ms. Kang and even took her to the courthouse. Her health kept declining with the ongoing harassment. She passed away on November 18, 2021.

Case 6: Ms. Wang Shukun Beaten to Death for Practicing Falun Gong

Ms. Wang Shukun, 66 years old, was a doctor of internal medicine at Hailin Town Hospital in Hailin City. In late June 2020, she received a call from the Party Secretary of the hospital telling her the dean of the hospital was looking for her. After she arrived at the hospital, it turned out it was officers from Hailin City No. 1 Police Station who were waiting for her. When Ms. Wang refused to sign the statements to renounce Falun Gong, the police beat her for hours in the hospital. Ms. Wang had to crawl up the stairs to get back to her apartment. Her husband noticed that her entire body was bruised. Her kneecaps were broken, and she was soaked in sweat. She was dizzy and felt like throwing up. Ms. Wang had a stroke (cerebral hemorrhage) in the afternoon on July 1. She passed away around 4:25 a.m. the next morning. After Ms. Wang’s death, the police kept harassing her husband and demanded he not report what happened to the Minghui.org website.

 

Select Torture Case

Mr. Dai Qihong, a former prison guard himself, was arrested in 2019 and was sentenced to five years in prison. While serving his term in Hulan Prison, Mr. Dai was tortured with methods including beatings, electric shocks, force-feeding, handcuffing, being hung up, and solitary confinement. He was forced to sit on small stools for hours and was not allowed to move. As a result of the persecution, his entire body was bruised and injured and he became emaciated. His face and mouth were disfigured due to the electric shocks and his spleen was ruptured while he was beaten.