On August 12, 2009, while going to her brother's home, Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Wang Xuchun was arrested by the local police. She was later force-fed to the point that she was on the verge of death. Wang Xuchun was eventually released.
In its 2009 Annual Report, the U.S. government's Congressional-Executive Commission on China thoroughly documents the continued and intensified targeting of Falun Gong practitioners by the Chinese security apparatus.
Ms. Wang Xuchun from Yushu City Describes Her Experience of Being Arrested and Persecuted
Name: Wang Xuchun
Gender: Female
Age: 60
Date of Most Recent Arrest: August 12, 2009
Most
Recent Place of Detention: Detention center
City:
Yunshu City
Province: Jilin Province
Persecution Suffered: Detention,beatings, physical constraint,
forced-feedings, interrogation
Ms. Wang Xuchun described her experiences of being arrested and persecuted as follows:
Between 5:00 and 6:00 a.m. on Wednesday, August 12, 2009, I went to my brother's home in Yumin Village. Just after I entered the door, Policeman Niu Chunping and two other people jumped over a wall and arrested me. I was put into a police car, where I clarified the truth to them, but they did not want to listen. Niu Chunping used his elbow to hit my left breast so hard it was swollen and painful for several days.
The police officers took me to a room in the city police department. An ominous person came to interrogate me, but I didn't answer any of his questions. He showed me the materials that resulted in a falsified charge against my sister (she was illegally sentenced to four years in prison for distributing informational materials). I snatched it from his hand and tried to tear it up. He slapped my face many times. I learned later that his name was Shi Hailin.
There was another person in the room. I explained the truth to him and tried to persuade him to resign from CCP. He beat me instead of listening to me.
On the second day, Shi Hailin came to interrogate me again. They ordered me to wear a prisoner's uniform, but I refused. They forced me to wear it however, and cuffed me onto a steel chair. Shi Hailin read the falsified confession and ordered me to put my fingerprints on a document. I didn't comply, and tore up the paper. Niu Chunping said with an evil grin, "I will do it for you."
In the afternoon, a guard, Teng Qingling, asked me why I didn't eat my lunch. I told her that I didn't want to eat. She started beating me by slapping my face. Then she jumped on the bed and kept kicking and cursing me until she felt tired.
Another person later came into the room. He stepped on my foot in a way that forced me to step on Master's picture on the ground. Later, I learned that his name was Fan Hongkai.
In the afternoon, after Shi Hailin created a falsified confession for me, the same as the one which brought a false charge against my sister, he transferred me to a detention center.
In the morning of the third day, a doctor for the detention center named Li came in. He said angrily, "If you don't eat today, you will be force-fed in the afternoon!"
In the afternoon, two strong inmates took me to the medical office. The director and deputy director of the detention center, along with the doctor, and those two inmates, forced me to the ground. My clothes were torn apart and buttons popped off. I shouted, "Falun Dafa is good!" I was lying on my side on the ground. A person then forced my head to face up and stepped on my mouth. Mud on his shoe fell into my mouth. I heard that the deputy director of the center used to use the same approach to treat other people. I was thin and in my sixties. Finally, they tied me up on a stretcher and inserted the tube into my nose. I was seriously injured inside and bleeding. My collar was covered by fresh blood. Even after four days, blood was still in my phlegm. Because I ate nothing in the detention center, I felt no pain. After being released from the center, I felt pain whenever I swallowed food. The situation lasted for many days.
Because they were unable to successfully insert the feeding tube, I was not force-fed. They tried it twice after that and again could not succeed. They subsequently tried an IV drip, but they couldn't successfully insert the needle into my arm. Therefore, they asked several people to hold my arm. I was then tied to the stretcher and received IV drips every day. Both of my arms and many other places on my body turned purple from the IV drip.
On the Monday after the first week, they put me into another women's cell. On either Tuesday or Wednesday, they interrogated me again. They took me to a place that I was not familiar with and asked me questions. I didn't answer any of them. On Thursday, a lady from the Section for Issuing Arrest Orders in the District Procuratorate came to the center to tell me that my arrest warrant was issued.
On the twenty-second day, the guards cuffed my feet with shackles. They took me to the emergency room of the city hospital where another IV drip was administered. The guards took turns monitoring me. There were two people on each shift. After my family members were extorted for two thousand yuan, I was released from the center.
22 Oct 2009
New York--In its 2009 Annual Report released last week, the U.S. government's Congressional-Executive Commission on China thoroughly documents the continued and intensified targeting of Falun Gong practitioners by the Chinese security apparatus over the past year. The section on Falun Gong cites, in particular, the involvement of top Chinese Communist Party officials in directing a "strike hard" campaign against Falun Gong, as well as the robust activity of the extralegal 6-10 Office in carrying out such directives.
"The government maintained its longstanding ban against the Falun Gong spiritual movement [in 2009]," says the report. "Viewing the 10th anniversary as sensitive, the central government held fast in 2009 with its 2008 pre-Olympics efforts to ferret out and punish Falun Gong practitioners."
"Authorities conducted propaganda campaigns that deride Falun Gong, carried out strict surveillance of practitioners, detained and imprisoned large numbers of practitioners, and subjected some who refuse to disavow Falun Gong to torture and other abuses in reeducation through labor facilities. International media and Falun Gong sources also reported deaths of practitioners in Chinese police custody in 2008 and 2009."
The Congressional-Executive Commission on China is a special joint body of the U.S. House of Representatives, Senate, and executive branch established in 2000 to monitor human rights and the development of rule of law in China. Its 400-page annual report, released on October 10, covers in detail a wide range of issues, including freedom of religion, freedom of expression, and the functioning of the judicial system. The research on Falun Gong draws on official Chinese documents and websites, reports by international media and human rights groups, and testimony from Chinese rights lawyers and former prisoners of conscience.
Key Findings and Evidence
KEY FINDINGS AND EVIDENCE FROM CECC REPORT
1. Advancing the CCP's decade-long persecution against Falun Gong was
a key priority in a nationwide crackdown in 2009. The crackdown was led by top
Party leaders--including Vice President Xi Jinping and Politburo Standing
Committee member Zhou Yongkang--and carried out by the public security bureau
(PSB) and local Party branches throughout the country.
o
PSB directives: "The high priority that Party leaders place on
the 'struggle' against Falun Gong was demonstrated by its inclusion as a
principal target for a 'strike hard' campaign in a [February 2009] directive
that set the agenda for public security bureaus (PSB) nationwide this year" (pg.
353)
o Project 6521: "Chinese authorities placed the
anti-Falun Gong campaign prominently on the agenda of a special public security
taskforce called 'Project 6521,' which reportedly was established to maintain
'social stability' during four sensitive anniversaries in 2009, including the
10th anniversary of the April 25 Falun Gong silent demonstration near the Party
leadership compound in Beijing." (pg. 121)
"The presence of two of
China's top leaders at the helm of Project 6521, Vice President Xi Jinping and
Zhou Yongkang, indicates the importance that the Party assigns to its political
'struggle' against Falun Gong... Provincial and municipal governments were
reportedly required to set up temporary 6521 taskforces led by the local deputy
Party secretary and public security chief while county and township authorities
were instructed to report their implementation of Project 6521 to the municipal
and provincial taskforces." (pg. 353)
2. Large numbers of Falun
Gong practitioners throughout the country continued to be subject to
surveillance, detention, "re-education through labor" and abuse in custody,
leading sometimes to death. During the year, concerns of organ harvesting from
nonconsenting Falun Gong prisoners of conscience continued to arise, including
from the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture.
·
Surveillance: "The 6–10 Office and public security bureaus throughout China
surveilled and monitored communities, residences, and workplaces in order to
identify and isolate Falun Gong adherents.... In June 2009, Jiujiang city
officials in Jiangxi province described a surveillance system focused on a group
of 829 'key figures,' composed primarily of former Falun Gong prisoners . In
July, authorities in Shandong province's Zibo city placed nine practitioners
under a 'system of 24-hour monitoring and control.'" (pg. 122)
·
"Re-education through labor" (RTL): "Chinese authorities continue to employ an
extrajudicial system of incarceration known as 'reeducation through labor' (RTL)
to punish multitudes of Falun Gong practitioners... In 2008, the Beijing Women's
RTL Center reportedly held 700 Falun Gong practitioners compared to only 140
prisoners accused of other crimes. In February 2009, more than half of 13 former
RTL inmates interviewed for one study--none of whom were practitioners--noted
that Falun Gong constituted one of the largest groups of RTL prisoners and that
they are singled out for harsh treatment." (pg. 123)
· Widespread
arrests: "As security intensified ahead of the 10th anniversary of the ban , the
'strike hard' campaign resulted in widespread detentions and imprisonment of
Falun Gong practitioners. In the first half of 2008, Harbin municipality
authorities in Heilongjiang province placed 53 Falun Gong practitioners in
criminal detention, 23 in administrative detention, formally arrested 23, and
ordered 19 to serve RTL." (pg. 123)
· Torture and deaths in custody:
"Cases of torture and death of Falun Gong practitioners in official custody,
both confirmed and alleged, continued to surface in the past year... In March
2009, a public security officer at the Shibei District Liaoyuan Road PSB station
in Qingdao reportedly beat Lu Xueqin, a Falun Gong practitioner, for nine days
until she was permanently paralyzed from the waist down. In July 2009, a
45-year-old practitioner named Yang Guiquan was reportedly declared dead upon
arrival at the Fuxin City Mining Corporation General Hospital in Liaoning
province after being held for 16 days by police and reportedly beaten with
electric batons and force-fed." (pg. 124)
· Organ harvesting: "In the
past year, allegations of organ harvesting from nonconsenting Falun Gong
prisoners have emerged again, further raising concerns about possible abuses in
China's organ transplant industry... In December 2008, the UN Committee against
Torture (UNCAT) indicated in its report on China that the UN Special Rapporteur
on Torture, Manfred Nowak, had noted 'an increase in organ transplant operations
coincides with the 'beginning of the persecution of ,'... In an August 2009
interview, Nowak noted that 't remains to be seen how it could be possible that
organ transplant surgeries in Chinese hospitals have risen massively since 1999,
while there are never that many voluntary donors available.'" (pg. 188)
3. Extensive efforts were made, led by the 6-10 Office, to
vilify Falun Gong practitioners amongst Chinese citizens and to mobilize the
public to contribute to the arrest of practitioners--including via special
school lessons and offers of monetary rewards to informants.
· Public propaganda campaigns: "Xuanwei authorities also authorized a
'powerful political offensive' in all villages and neighborhoods involving
mandatory resident participation in a propaganda campaign to 'effectively
frighten' Falun Gong." (pg. 122)
· Anti-Falun Gong lessons in
universities and elementary schools: "The 6–10 Office focuses on public schools
and universities as venues for spreading its message... In May 2009, the
Xinjiang Agricultural University initiated a 10-month campaign to 'build a
durable ideological line of defense' to 'guard against and resist'... Falun
Gong. In July, elementary school students in Leshan city, Sichuan province,
attended a 'lively' speech from the local Party secretary and viewed an
'anti-cult warning film.' The principal instructed students to study 'anti-cult'
materials during the summer, take notes or write a comic book to illustrate
lessons learned, and return a form with a parent's signature to verify
completion of the assignment." (pg. 123)
· Paid informants:
"Identification and monitoring of Falun Gong practitioners is also accomplished
through the 6–10 Office's cultivation of paid informants... The 6–10 Office in
Liuyang, a county-level city under Hunan province's Changsha municipality,
launched a 24-hour hotline for informants in March [2009] and announced rewards
of between 50 and 1,000 yuan (US$7 and US$146)... Authorities in Anhui
province's Bengbu city credited an informant's call for facilitating the capture
of a 50-year-old disabled Falun Gong practitioner named Yu Xiaoping who was
distributing leaflets." (pg. 122)
4. The CCP and 6-10 Office
continued to use political control over the court system, legal profession, and
law enforcement agencies to systematically deny Falun Gong practitioners their
basic rights to due process, fair trials, and access to counsel. These efforts
included direct instructions to judges on how to decide Falun Gong cases and an
escalation in the assaults and harassment of Chinese lawyers seeking to defend
Falun Gong clients.
· 6-10 Office interference in judicial
proceedings: "The Party's 6–10 Office reportedly has interfered in the
adjudication of Falun Gong cases. In November 2008, defense lawyers for two
practitioners on trial at the Jiguan District People's Court in Jixi city,
Heilongjiang province, challenged the court's independence when the presiding
judge was seen meeting with 6–10 Office agents during a court recess. In
February 2009, the Xi'an District People's Court in Liaoyuan city, Jilin
province, reported that when preparing for a trial involving Falun Gong ..., the
court must first 'petition' the municipal 6–10 Office, and only after receiving
an affirmative response is the court then permitted to hear the case." (pg. 126)
· Other forms of obstructing justice: "In the past year, trials of
Falun Gong practitioners continued to display procedural irregularities and
violations, while justice bureaus took actions that subverted ordinary legal
protections. In October 2008, the Wuhou District People's Court in Chengdu, the
capital of Sichuan province, sentenced 11 Falun Gong practitioners to between
three and seven years in prison. The court reportedly barred family members from
attending the trial and prohibited the defendants' lawyers from speaking. More
than 15 lawyers joined together to appeal the ruling, but the appeals court
attempted to obstruct their access to court records. The Harbin Municipal
Justice Bureau issued a directive in October requiring attorneys who defend
Falun Gong practitioners to report to and receive pre-trial 'guidance' from the
government-controlled lawyers association." (pg. 126)
· Physical
assaults and detention of lawyers: "In the past year, security officials in
southwest China reportedly assaulted attorneys who attempted to defend Falun
Gong clients facing charges in China's judicial system... In 2009, authorities
in northeastern China reportedly detained at least four attorneys on account of
their defense of Falun Gong clients... On May 13, 2009, more than 20 officers
from the Jiangjin District Public Security Bureau (PSB) in Chongqing
municipality reportedly physically assaulted attorneys Li Chunfu and Zhang Kai
at the home of Jiang Xiqing, a Falun Gong practitioner whose death in custody
they were investigating. Officers took Li and Zhang to the PSB where they hung
them inside iron cages, interrogated, and beat them. Police reportedly told Li
and Zhang that "you absolutely cannot defend Falun Gong; this is the situation
in China." (pg. 124)
· The torture and disappearance of Gao Zhisheng:
"The Chinese Government's harsh treatment of lawyers who defend Falun Gong has
been most severe in the case of Gao Zhisheng, a prominent human rights attorney
who was last seen being forcibly taken from his hometown by public security
officials on February 4, 2009. When public security officials abducted Gao in
September 2007, Gao was tortured in a secret location outside Beijing for more
than 50 days. Gao's account of the abduction describes how he was repeatedly
struck with electric batons all over his body, including his genitals, and
subjected to other forms of torture. Gao recounts how his tormentors admitted
that Falun Gong practitioners were indeed tortured as Gao had previously
alleged: "you are not incorrect in saying that we torture Falun Gong followers.
That's right, we do. The 12 courses we're serving you were perfected on the
Falun Gong followers.'' Gao was also warned that he would be killed if he told
anyone about being abducted and tortured. He has not been seen since February."
(pg. 125)
· Harassment and loss of license: "In cases where
authorities did not physically assault or detain attorneys who defend Falun
Gong, officials often harassed and intimidated them... As of early September
2009, at least 21 rights lawyers had not passed the "annual assessment and
registration" . Rights lawyers and NGOs believe that authorities are punishing
the lawyers for taking on cases the government deems sensitive or controversial,
such as cases involving Falun Gong... In late March 2009, Jiang Tianyong and
Tang Jitian--two of the human rights lawyers whose licenses to practice law were
not renewed by the May 31 deadline this year--were prevented from meeting their
detained client, Ge Hefei, a Falun Gong practitioner, in Hebei province." (pg.
104)