(Clearwisdom.net)
Since July of 1999, many Dafa practitioners from Bayan County, Heilongjiang Province, have been subjected to the persecution. Of the practitioners arrested, twenty were sent to forced labor camps, and fifty are still being detained. Many others have been forced to leave home to avoid further persecution. To satisfy their personal greed, the local police carried out extortion against the victims as well, to a total sum of about 150 thousand Yuan* during this period.
In the spring of 2002, Dafa practitioner Cheng Guilan was illegally arrested, his home was ransacked, and his property was confiscated. The police even took away a total of 12,000 Yuan, which was aid given to the immediate family members from the Deceased Soldiers' Fund.
On July 12, 2002, Dafa practitioner Dou Lihua was arrested at her home. The police fabricated the evidence and sentenced her to twelve years of imprisonment.
During the Moon Festival of 2002, Wu, an elderly Dafa practitioner from Longquan Village, was illegally arrested by the police. During the arrest, the police kicked him so hard that one of his ribs was broken. He was later sent to a detention center. At first, the police tried to extort 5,000 Yuan from his family, then later lowered the amount to 2,000 Yuan in exchange for his release. Since the practitioner was extremely poor and had an aged and sick relative at home, the police finally realized that the chance of getting any money from them was slim, so they sentenced the practitioner to a forced labor camp without notifying his family.
* Yuan is Chinese currency. 500 Yuan is the average monthly income for an urban worker in China.
