"Tiananmen Self-Immolation" Investigative Report (Abridged Version)

PureInsight | May 26, 2003

[PureInsight.org]
1. Reasons for Opening the Case

At 2:41 PM on January 23rd, 2001, a series of shocking self-immolations took place at Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China. Right after it happened, the Xinhua New Agency and the Chinese Central Television Station, the two major mouthpieces of the Chinese Communist regime that normally does everything possible to keep this type of incident secret, immediately reported on it and claimed that the five people who had committed self-immolation and two others who had attempted to commit self-immolation were Falun Gong practitioners. However, as the act of self-immolation is obviously against the principles and teachings of Falun Gong, practitioners of Falun Gong, as well as international media and third party agencies, have raised strong doubts about the Chinese regime's accusations and condemned these accusations. Shortly after the incident, Philip Pan, a reporter from the Washington Post, went to the hometown of Liu Chunling, the woman who died at the scene of the self-immolation, to conduct an independent investigation. In his front-page article on February 4, 2001, Pan revealed that none of her neighbors ever thought that Liu was a Falun Gong practitioner and none of them ever saw Liu practicing the Falun Gong exercises. The International Education Development (IED) office made an official statement at the United Nations on August 14, 2001: "...The regime points to a supposed self-immolation incident in Tiananmen Square on January 23, 2001 as proof to slander Falun Gong. However, we have obtained a video of that incident that in our view proves that this event was staged by the government." In spite of this, the self-immolation incident has served as a major tool in the Jiang regime's international campaign of slander against Falun Gong. Jiang Zemin, the former President of China, has used this to his advantage in waging a broader and more severe campaign of suppression and persecution against Falun Gong practitioners.

After receiving information from many parties, the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG) formed the International Committee to Investigate the "Tiananmen Square Self-Immolation" on January 23, 2003 in order to carry out a full-scale investigation. The ensuing investigation used voice recognition software to conduct voice testing of Wang Jindong, an individual who allegedly engaged in the self-immolation and appeared on the Focus Interview program of Chinese Central Television Station, CCTV. The investigation also covered other individuals, collecting evidence at the Beijing Jishuitan Hospital, where the people who had committed "self-immolation" were treated, and used other channels to conduct the investigation. The following is a summary of the progress and results of the investigation to be made public.

2. Investigation Results

Studies conducted using world-class technology concluded that the "Wang Jingdong" who made several appearances in CCTV programs was not the same person, and the same is true for Liu Baorong

WOIPFG asked the National Taiwan University Language Laboratory, a world-famous Chinese language voice recognition laboratory, to conduct independent voice analysis for Wang Jindong and Liu Baorong, who appeared on three different episodes of the Focus Interview program on CCTV. The National Taiwan University Language Laboratory is a world leader in the areas of Chinese language audio recognition and comparison. It was the first to have the capability to distinguish and validate spoken Chinese language components with a high level of accuracy using the computer.

The National Taiwan University Language Laboratory used cutting-edge Speaker Verification technology and placed frequently used phrases that "Wang Jindong" and "Liu Baorong" had used during the different TV appearances into the Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) to compare the voices of two characters. It reached the definitive conclusion that the "Wang Jingdong" and "Liu Baorong" who first appeared on the Focus Interview program aren't the same people as the "Wang Jingdong" and "Liu Barong" who appeared on the Focus Interview program the second time.

This investigative result is consistent with the information that WOPIFG has obtained through other channels on the identity of Wang Jingdong. WOPIFG has obtained information through confidential sources that the "Wang Jingdong" who committed self-immolation was in fact a role played by Liu Yan, a member of the military who is on active duty.

A staff member at the Jishuitan Hospital: "Liu Siying was quite animated and active, and ready to be discharged from the hospital. Then she suddenly died. The cause of her death is very suspicious."

WOPIFG discovered the following from a staff member at the Jishuitan Hospital, who was part of the medical team that treated Liu Siying, "Liu Siying's burns had almost been completely treated. Her health had basically returned to normal. She was quite animated and active, and ready to be discharged from the hospital, and then she suddenly died. The cause of her death is very suspicious." During the period of time right before she died, including on Friday, March 16th, 2001, one day before her death, her electrocardiogram (EKG) and other tests all showed normal results. Then on Saturday, March 17th, 2001 between 11 AM and 12 PM, doctors suddenly discovered that Liu Siying was in critical condition, and she died shortly after. In addition, in the morning of March 17th, 2001, between 8 AM and 9 AM, the head of the Jishuitan Hospital and the division head of the Beijing City Medical Administration Division paid a visit to Liu Siying at her hospital room and talked to her for quite a long time. "At that time, Liu Siying was still quite animated and active. Shortly after they left, doctors found that she was in critical condition and died shortly after."

The autopsy of Liu Siying took place at the Jishuitan Hospital, but the autopsy report was issued by the Emergency Center. In addition, the autopsy report didn't disclose any discussion on the case. It only had a general statement stating that her death was likely due to problems with her myocardium. As to how Liu Siying was able to sing songs during a CCTV program after her trachea was cut open, a doctor at the Jishuitan Hospital felt that "It wasn't possible for Liu Siying's voice to be that loud and clear. It seems that CCTV did something there." The above information is included in "Jishuitan Hospital Medical Personnel Investigative Report." (Confidential)

Why did it take more than two hours for the ambulance to deliver the severely burned victims to the hospital?

According to a report by the Xinhua News Agency on the self-immolation incident, at 2:41 PM on January 23, 2001, on the northeastern side of the People's Hero Monument, Wang Jingdong was the first one to light himself on fire. "Less than a minute later, several policemen used four fire extinguishers and rapidly extinguished the fire on this man. They then used a police vehicle that was on duty to rapidly transport him to the hospital for emergency care." Several minutes later, on the north side of the People's Hero Monument, four women who were positioned not too far apart lit gasoline that they had covered themselves with. It only took a minute and half for the police to put out the flames. "Less than 7 minutes after the incident took place, three ambulances from the Beijing Emergency Medical Center arrived at the scene and transported the people who were injured to the best burn unit in Beijing, the Jishuitan Hospital, for emergency treatment."

According to the Xinhua News Agency, the self-immolation incident took place at 2:41 PM, after adding the 7 minutes it took to put out the fire and 20 plus minutes that it normally takes for a vehicle to go from Tiananmen Square to the Jishuitan Hospital (it should take less time for an ambulance to make the journey), those people who had committed self-immolation should have arrived at the Jishuitan Hospital at shortly after 3 PM.

Yet several medical personnel at the Jishuitan Hospital have confirmed that the people who committed the self-immolation didn't arrive at the hospital until well after 6 PM. [2] From around 3 PM to 6 PM, a minimum of 2 hours had elapsed. Reports from the Xinhua News Agency couldn't explain where those people went during this period of time. What really happened during this period of time? Where were those people who had committed self-immolation taken to? Who else was involved? This is a major area that the investigation will focus on next.

Self-immolation videotape shows that Liu Chunling was hit by a male with a heavy object and fell to the ground

From the video recording of the self-immolation that was aired during the Focus Interview program of CCTV, one can see that a man wearing a military overcoat held a heavy object in his hands and struck the head of Liu Chunling, who later died. She fell to the ground and threw up her hands to hold the left side of her head, which had been hit. WOPIFG believes that it is highly likely that Liu Chunling died at the scene from the physical assault instead of burns. The man who was present at the scene wearing a military coat was clearly not attempting to render aid to Liu Chunling. It seems that his mission was to kill Liu Chunling. Who is he? Why did he murder Liu Chunling?

3. Conclusions and the Next Step in the Investigation

Based on the above investigative results and evidence, WOIPFG has concluded that the "Tiananmen Self-immolation" is a major conspiracy that is criminal in nature and has grave consequences. It included malicious murders with the intent of framing others. The case involves a variety of parties with complicated relationships. It is possible that this crime can be directly attributed to Jiang Zemin, the Chinese president and the head of the Chinese Communist Party at the time, as well as the head of the Central Military Commission. WOIPFG has recognized the serious criminal nature of this case that has the potential to be the biggest conspiracy, murder, and framing since the Chinese Communist Party came to power in China. At the same time, WOIPFG has clearly seen the difficulty with continuing its investigation on this case and the importance of doing so. WOIPFG is determined to discover and publish all the facts surrounding this case. It will submit the results of the investigation to the International Criminal Court, international judicial and human rights organizations, and the relevant agencies at the United Nations. It will definitely seek to bring people who participated in the execution and planning of this crime to justice.

While it will continue to search for the main culprit behind this case, WOIPFG also urges anyone who has information about the case to turn in the criminals responsible and submit relevant information on the case to the WOIPFG. The specific targets of the next round of the WOIPFG investigation include:


(1) The mastermind behind the "Tiananmen Self-immolation Incident"
(2) The man who appeared in the CCTV video wearing a military overcoat and struck Liu Chunling
(3) Those who are responsible for the sudden death of Liu Siying

World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong

May 2nd, 2003

The Chinese version is available at http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2003/5/17/21645.html

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