Yao Fuxin
According to sources, Yao Fuxin is still not acclimatized to the harsh prison life at Lingyuan and he still has a bad skin rash. However, his previously very high blood pressure appears to have stabilized. His diastolic blood pressure is now stable, and the systolic pressure has fallen to 110 (80 is the norm).
Yao is reportedly not allowed to make phone-calls, and he is being denied the right to exercise outdoors. Other prisoners in his cell are said to behave antagonistically towards him and often try to provoke him into retaliation. Despite this, he remains relatively cheerful.
CLB has also learned that the trial of the two men in January 2003, after some ten months imprisonment, was triggered by Yao Fuxins six-day-hunger-strike in the Shenyang Municipal Detention Centre at the end of 2002. The hunger strike was prompted by his continued detention without a trial. By the sixth day of hunger strike, Yao Fuxin had apparently become extremely weak and the Liaoning Province Public Security Bureau [PSB] sent two officials to persuade him to end the hunger strike for fear of serious health repercussions. Yao Fuxin then reportedly demanded that two conditions be met before he would begin eating again: first, that a trial hearing date be set without delay; and second, that he be transferred back to Liaoyang as it was difficult for him to meet with his family in Shenyang and the conditions of detention there were poor.
Xiao Yunliang:
According to sources, Xiao Yunliang was transferred to the Shenyang municipal Dabei Prison on 16 March, and on 18 March his family managed to visit him there for the first time.
Xiao reportedly remains in poor condition and he has now contracted scabies. [NOTE 1] However, the previously reported swelling and odema which had affected him has become less severe since the familys previous meeting with him. Xiao was reportedly due for a medical examination in the afternoon of 18 March, but the outcome of the examination is not yet known.
The familys visit to the prison was reported to be brief and uncomfortable. The family members were accompanied by a PSB official from Baita District of Liaoyang, whose purpose in coming was to ascertain Xiaos current health condition. The family had brought food and other basic essentials to give to Xiao Yunliang, but they were told that they could only give him food bought at the prison shop. When asked if an exception to the rule could be made, a prison officer began shouting abuse at the family. Xiao Yunliang tried to defend his wife and daughter but was sharply reproached by the prison officer. The meeting was then brought to an end by the prison authorities after only ten minutes, leaving the family with no time to ask Xiao Yunliang for further details about his detention conditions at the Shenyang prison.
NOTES
NOTE 1: Scabies is caused by a tiny mite that is generally hard to detect, and causes an extremely itchy skin condition. It is often prevalent in overcrowded and unhygienic living conditions, such as prisons.
30 April 2004