(Minghui.org) The Minghui.org website previously reported on the suspicious in-custody death of a 49-year-old man in Li County, Hebei Province. It was recently learned that his family was forced to bury his body two days later and waive their right to seek justice for him.
Mr. Zhao Jiuzhou was arrested in 2016 for protesting the persecution of his mother because she practiced Falun Gong. He became mentally disabled after being given an injection while in custody. He was arrested again in September 2024 for writing messages supporting Falun Gong on utility poles, and died in custody on April 26, 2025. His family was forced to accept 180,000 yuan in compensation and sign a waiver stating that he died of natural causes, and that they would not hold his perpetrators responsible. They buried his body on April 28, 2025, with a police officer video-recording the entire process.
The following describes what happened after Mr. Zhao’s death, as recently learned by Minghui.org.
On the morning of April 26, 2025, Liu Dongjiang, secretary of Nanguan Village, called Mr. Zhao’s daughter Yuan (alias) and said that her father was being resuscitated at the Li County Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital. She and a few family members rushed there. Someone from her workplace was present and seized her cell phone to prevent her from notifying more relatives.
Yuan saw police cars and SWAT vehicles outside the hospital. There were also officers in the hallway with their bodycams turned on. She asked to see her father, and a deputy police chief led her to a room where her father’s cold and stiff body lay covered with a blue tarp. A doctor said her father had already died by the time he arrived at the hospital.
The officers guarding the room initially denied Yuan’s request to view the body or take photos, but relented and allowed her to take a quick look after she protested. She didn’t see external injuries on her father’s arms or chest, but noted that his mouth was wide open. The police quickly put the tarp back on the body before she had a chance to examine other parts.
Yuan was shocked at her father’s sudden death. Mr. Zhao had been very healthy, except for his seizure and mental disorder, before his latest arrest. His medical records indicated that his conditions had been well controlled with medications, and would not cause any danger to him.
The Li County Detention Center, where Mr. Zhao was held before being taken to the hospital, refused to disclose the cause of his death and urged his daughter to deliver his body to a funeral home. The Liwu Town manager also called Mr. Zhao’s cousin, urging him to have the body sent to the funeral home. Yuan and her uncle, along with other relatives, decided to wait at least until her brother got to the hospital by 2 p.m. to see their father one last time.
On the evening of April 26, 2025, village secretary Liu summoned some of Mr. Zhao’s relatives to his own home. Some other government officials were also there and they offered the family 40,000 yuan to “settle the matter.” The relatives rejected the offer.
Yuan’s employer was then instructed to “work on” her. Officer Wu Lixin from the Chengguan Police Station subsequently harassed her paternal grandmother, Ms. Cui Shumei. He video-recorded Ms. Cui’s home and said it was an order from above.
The Liwu Town manager and Wang Zhanjie, secretary of the Daizhuang Village, showed up at the home of Mr. Zhao’s younger sister, Ms. Zhao Dongxue, and demanded that she and her family “deal with this matter” before her son’s wedding in a few days. Officer Wu and another person later came to her home to “take a look.”
The Liwu Town manager also called Mr. Zhao’s cousin numerous times, urging him to “handle the matter.”
Mr. Zhao’s family went to the funeral home on the morning of April 27, 2025, but were blocked from going inside. The funeral home said they needed permission from the police. Village secretary Liu was present and said the family needed to agree not to video-record the body. Only then was the family allowed to go inside.
A police car was seen outside Mr. Zhao’s mother’s home on the afternoon of April 27, 2025.
On the evening of April 27, 2025, secretary Liu again summoned Mr. Zhao’s relatives to his home to discuss how much compensation would be “enough to settle the matter.” At around 10 p.m. that night, Mr. Zhao’s sister was preparing for her son’s wedding when a group of officers broke in and took her to the Chengguan Police Station. They said she wailed loudly at the hospital when she saw her brother’s body, and had thus “disrupted social order.”
An insider called other relatives and relayed the police’s demand that the family needed to agree that night to bury the body or the authorities would cremate the body without offering any compensation.
Mr. Zhao’s family agreed to accept an 180,000-yuan compensation and sign a waiver a bit after 11 p.m. on April 27, 2025. They were also threatened to not tell outsiders about the compensation. Mr. Zhao’s wife Ms. Cao Hongmei, daughter Yuan, and son were forced to sign and palm print a waiver saying they would not file any complaints against anyone involved in the case. A man who claimed to be the police chief grabbed Mr. Zhao’s mother’s hand to press her fingerprints on the same waiver.
At around 9:00 a.m. on April 28, 2025, Mr. Zhao’s sister was also forced to sign the waiver before she was released. One hour later her brother’s body was interred, under the watchful eye of officer Wu, who video-recorded the burial.
Secretary Liu called Mr. Zhao’s daughter Yuan on May 15, 2025, and ordered her family to sign some paperwork at the Chengguan Police Station. Her mother went and saw two young men from the Gaoyang Court there. They said that Mr. Zhao was still healthy when they deposed him at the detention center, and when he later appeared in court. They blamed the detention center for Mr. Zhao’s death, but his wife knew that everyone, from the police to the procuratorate, and from the court to the detention center, had a part in causing her family this unimaginable tragedy.
Mentally Disabled Man Dies in Custody After Latest Arrest in 2024 for Publicly Supporting Falun Gong