(Clearwisdom.net) On February 6, 2003, the Minghui website (the Chinese counterpart of Clearwisdom.net) published information about the death of Du Guilan, a Falun Dafa practitioner from Hegang City, Heilongjiang Province. Police officials claimed at the time that Ms. Du died after jumping from the second floor of a building. Local practitioners doubted the truth of this, and thought it more likely that Ms. Du was tortured to death by police officers. What follows are further details that have since been uncovered.

In early December 2003, by the Chinese lunar calendar, local police officer Zhang Zhipeng abducted Ms. Du's husband and younger son Tiedan (about 20 years old) to the Nandaying Police Station and tortured them with various methods, including the "twisted-arm-behind-back-handcuffing," which caused Tiedan to pass out. Officers then extorted 3000 yuan from Tiedan by threatening to go after his mother in the next few days unless it was paid.

At about 7:00 p.m. on December 24, 2003, police officer Zhang Zhipeng called the family and informed them that Ms. Du had died as a result of jumping from a building. When family members arrived at the site, police officers were guarding it and would not allow them to get close enough to see anything; they were also forbidden from talking or even crying. At 8:00 p.m., without permission from the family, the authorities performed an autopsy on Du Guilan's body. Only after the autopsy were members of Ms. Du's family allowed to see her body. The scene was horrible; Ms. Du was shaved and stripped and stitches were visible on her stomach.

At this point, police officers Zhang Zhipeng, Lu Jianfeng and one other from the city police department were present. When family members asked why an autopsy was conducted after her death, the officer said that they were just following legal procedures. These officers would not allow the family members to have Ms. Du's body dressed unless they first paid them 100 "yuan". The police officer from the city cursed loudly at the family when they refused. When the family members asked for Ms. Du's bloodstained clothes, the police officers prohibited it. The following morning Du Guilan's body was cremated. During the cremation, family members were not allowed to get close, or even to talk or cry. The 3000 yuan deposit that the family had paid to keep their loved one safe was confiscated by the officials to pay for her cremation.