Lu Huizhong - 吕会忠
(Minghui.org) On September 5, 2000, police from Branch No. 1 of the Public Security Bureau of Dandong City, Liaoning Province, abducted local Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Lu Huizhong from his workplace. Mr. Lu was tortured to death around 3:00 a.m. the next day. His face was dark blue and his eyes remained wide open. Mr. Zhu Wenjie, Head of the Public Security Bureau of Dandong City even told Lu Huizhong's family, "I will be glad to face any lawsuit you wish to file against me. I will accept all the legal consequences should you win the lawsuit."
Mr. Lu Huizhong died at the age of 38. He was an employee at Dandong City First Department Store. He started practicing Falun Gong in 1996. After former President Jiang Zemin and the Chinese Communist Party banned Falun Gong on July 20, 1999, the police arrested Mr. Lu after he stepped forward to appeal for justice for Falun Gong. He was illegally detained for 15 days and released. Then he continued to clarify the truth about Falun Gong.
On September 5, 2005, the police from Branch No. 1 of the Public Security Bureau in Dandong City showed up at Mr. Lu Huizhong's workplace and took him away. At around 7:00 p.m. that day, Mr. Lu's older brother went to visit him in detention and he was still alive and well then. But around 3:00 a.m. the next day, the police told Mr. Lu's family that Lu Huizhong had killed himself by jumping out of the building. When Mr. Lu's family asked the police about the details of his death, the police gave inconsistent answers, which exposed their lies. Lu Huizhong's family went to their superior at the Public Security Bureau in Dandong City, but they were met with a provocative reply from Zhu Wenjie, the Head of the Public Security Bureau, who said, "I will be glad to face any lawsuit you wish to file against me. I will accept all the legal consequences should you win the lawsuit."
To uphold justice for Lu Huizhong, his family talked to all the relevant legal organizations in Dandong City, including the Public Security Bureau, the city's Political and Legal Committee and the Prosecutor's Office. None of them were willing to uphold justice for Lu Huizhong. Finally, the family decided to hire an attorney to represent them, but no attorney had the courage to take the case, due to the Chinese Communist regime's announcement that no one must ever defend Falun Gong practitioners in court.
Mr. Lu's family tried for about 80 days to seek justice for Lu Huizhong, but no one would help them. Mrs. Lu was overcome with grief. She didn't want to leave her husband's body in the morgue any longer, so she finally decided to have a funeral and an autopsy before the cremation. According to the coroner, there were injuries on Mr. Lu's face and body, and his ribcage was fractured in three different places. A fractured rib penetrated Lu's heart, which caused his death. His thighbones were fractured in two different places. His face was dark blue and his eyes were wide open.
On the day of the cremation, Mrs. Lu didn't want to trouble her husband's fellow Falun Gong practitioners. She only invited one of her husband's co-workers who was a Falun Gong practitioner to attend the cremation. Because he was notified shortly before the cremation, he only had time to notify about 20 Falun Gong practitioners to pay Lu Huizhong their last respects at the funeral parlor. When the police saw so many Falun Gong practitioners appearing at the funeral parlor, they brought in a few police cars with armed policemen. The atmosphere was very tense and terrifying. But no one was intimidated. They paid their last respects silently and tranquilly.
Seven days after the cremation, Lu Huizhong's family followed the local Chinese custom and burned paper money to offer to Lu Huizhong's spirit. That day, about twenty of Lu Huizhong's family members went to Branch No. 1 of the Public Security Bureau in Dandong City and started burning the paper money in front of their building. The police came out to stop them and they began to argue. Lu Huizhong's family asked the police, "Why can't we burn the paper money here?" The police replied, "This is an office building. You must not burn paper money here." Lu Huizhong's family questioned, "You have illegally arrested Lu Huizhong and brought him here. He died mysteriously here. His spirit is still here. Of course we must offer him the paper money here. Where else will we be able to reach his spirit?!"
Meanwhile, Mrs. Lu explained in tears about her husband's wrongful death to any passerby who would listen. She said, "Lu Huizhong was a very kind man. He became an even better person after he started practicing Falun Gong. He did not violate any Chinese law, but the police abducted him and he died in police custody. We cannot file a lawsuit to uphold justice for him. How are my daughter and I to go on without him?" Lu Huizhong's daughter kept calling for her daddy during the paper money offering ritual. Many people were brought to tears when they witnessed the heartbreaking moment.
In order to prevent Lu Huizhong's family from burning paper money in front of the police department again on the 14th day and the 21st day following his cremation (which are known as the second 7th day and the third 7th day according to local Chinese custom), the police from Branch No. 1 of the Public Security Bureau in Dandong City dispatched a large number of officers to put all of Mr. Lu's family under house arrest on those two days. By silencing the family, they hoped to conceal their crimes against Lu Huizhong.
