E/CN.4/1995/91/Add.1 page 12 particularly harsh conditions in the place where he was first detained before being transferred to Hengshui. His health has allegedly been severely affected thereby. On the occasion of the funeral of Bishop Fan Xueyan, the circumstances of whose death have already been related in a previous report (E/CN.4/1993/62), some 10,000 Catholics reportedly assembled at Wangting, the Bishop’s native village, in Dingxing County, Hebei province, despite the proclamation of martial law by the authorities in four dioceses of that province and the posting of troops in the vicinity of the village. The population of Wanting are said to have been warned by loudspeaker that they would be heavily fined if they had guests to stay for the night after the funeral. Many Catholics who had made the journey by tractor, bicycle or motor cycle allegedly had their means of transport confiscated and were fined. (a) Chinese Catholics who have died in custody or who are gravely ill Bishop Liu Difen, of the diocese of Anguo, Hebei province, who had disappeared in December 1990 at the age of 78, reportedly died on 14 November 1992 from a cerebral embolism and hypertension. A fortnight before his death, according to reports, a delegation from the Religious Affairs Bureau visited his family to inform them of the Bishop’s poor state of health and ask them to take care of him. Apparently his relatives assented immediately and offered to go and fetch him, but the officials answered that they would arrange to have the Bishop brought home. A week later his nephews were reportedly apprised of his worsening state of health and of the need to convey him immediately from the Kuancheng district hospital, where he then was, to their home 500 kilometres from there. After travelling all night, the nephews reportedly found their uncle already unconscious and urgently in need of oxygen before they could undertake the return trip. Allegedly, the hospital demanded such a large sum of money for supplying the oxygen that one of the nephews turned around to go back to his village, hire a car, get a doctor to come with him bringing an oxygen tent, and again make the outward trip. In the meantime, according to the reports, Bishop Liu had breathed his last. When finally the nephews obtained permission to bring home their uncle’s remains, they allegedly found many untreated wounds on his back, on his left shoulder and under his left armpit. They are said to be convinced that the Bishop’s death was caused by ill-treatment. The funeral reportedly took place in the presence of some 3,000 Catholics, 14 priests and a bishop not belonging to the official Catholic Church. Grave concern is reportedly being expressed about the fate of Bishop Jianzhang Chen, who disappeared on 13 December 1990 from his residence in Xiefangying, Xushui County, and of whom there has since been no news. The Bishop, aged over 70, was allegedly first sent to a ’study camp’ and then transferred, a year later, to an old persons’ home apparently run by the Catholic Patriotic Association. Despite assurances given by the authorities to the Bishop’s family that he had done nothing illegal and was free, it seems that his relatives were