On February 17, 2007, Falun Dafa practitioners Ms. Xu Hongmei and Ms. Shen Zili from Qiqihar City, Heilongjiang Province were taken to the Internal Medicine Department of the Qiqihar City Second Hospital with ankle shackles on. They had been tortured for five days by policeman Yi Zhanhui, and others from the Qingyun Street Station in Longsha District, Qiqihar City. They both had lost consciousness and could not eat; they were coughing up blood and twitching. Their entire bodies were swollen. The officers of the Qiqihar City 610 Office, Longsha District 610 Office, the City Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Political and Judiciary Committee, and Police Departments came to the Hospital frequently, attempting to extort 20,000 yuan from the practitioners' families, promising to release the practitioners if they were paid. Their families had no money to pay. The officials then said that they would not be released even if they died in the hospital. Ms. Xu Hongmei died at 4:30 p.m., on February 27, 2007, at age 37. Ms. Shen Zili died at 8:50 p.m. on the same day, at 49 years old.