Summary of Other Articles and News - March 8, 2004

(Clearwisdom.net)

Facts of the Persecution

Dafa practitioner Tang Lianqing from Qiancheng Village, Handian Town, Shuangcheng City, Heilongjiang province was kidnapped on May 8, 2000. He traveled to Beijing to exercise his right to appeal as a Chinese citizen. Tang was brutally beaten by officers from the Handian Town Police Station at the holding center. Later Tang was sent to the Shuangcheng Detention Center and was also beaten there. Tang went on a hunger strike to protest. After 34 days, the village officials blackmailed him for 2,000 yuan ⁽¹⁾ and then released him. On June 24, 2000, the police of the Shuangcheng Detention Center arrested Tang again. There he was handcuffed and tortured with the "Tiger Bench" ⁽²⁾, and he was beaten by prisoners for 18 hours. After 17 days of detention, he was released on July 13, 2000 after he paid 225 yuan. On April 19, 2002, Tang was arrested again by the police station and brutally beaten. He was able to escape and cannot return to his home in order to avoid further persecution.

"I am Zhang Limin. I was a female executive official in the Kaiping district People's Court in Tangshan City. Because I refused to give up my belief in Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance, I was illegally detained for nine months by the Kaiping Area "610 Office"⁽³⁾ and the police. I was detained for five months in the basement of the police station and four months in the Kaiping Brainwashing Center. I was fired from my job at the Kaiping Area People's Court two months after I was arrested. After I was released without being charged, I was sent to work in the Kaiping Area Market Administration Bureau. My new employer, the Kaiping police, the Kaiping area "610 Office" and the Kaiping Forced Labor Camp constantly harassed me. The harassment prevented me from working regularly and brought my family and friends tremendous mental pressure.

Dafa practitioner Wang Shaohua, from Shengli Oil Field, Shandong Province, was sent to the Shengcai Brainwashing Center in Shengli Oil Field on Oct 25, 2003. Wang was abused and subjected to brainwashing. Because he refused to comply with the authorities as he had committed no wrongdoing, authorities from the Shengli Oil Field "610 Office" and brainwashing center sent him to the Shandong Wangcun Brainwashing Center on February 24, 2004.

Inhuman Torture by Police Officers

During the Chinese New Year, the police in the 19^th cellblock at the Litang Prison in Binyang City, Guangxi Province, tortured Dafa practitioners Mr. Lin Hongbin and Mr. Liang Zhong, both from Guangxi Beihai City, with electric batons. The police handcuffed Mr. Lin and Mr. Liang, and shocked their elbows and arms for about an hour. By the end of the torture, their arms had swollen to the size of their legs and were extremely painful. Right before the Chinese New Year, the police from the 19^th cellblock hung up eight practitioners, including Mr. Lin and Mr. Liang, for 20 days in a row. Practitioners are often locked up in a small closed room, beaten, or forced to squat over a long period of time. They are not allowed to shower for long periods of time.

Persecution in Linquan County, Anhui Province

The Director of the Linquan County Police Department Political Security Section Wang Yimin and his policemen forcibly stripped off a Dafa practitioner's clothes and took away the practitioner's money. Wang Yimin and Liu Gang, the Assistant Director of the Linquan County Police Department, blackmailed practitioner Wang Ying's family for 19,000 yuan in July 2000. From March 19-20 in 2001, the head of the Linquan County "610 Office" Zhang Lianhai and Liu Gang physically abused Wang Ying in the backyard of the police department while they were interrogating her. Wang Ying was tortured with the 'Tiger Bench' for 36 hours. In October 2002, the Director of the Linquan County Detention Center Wu Guangjie and his officers pushed Wang Ying to the ground and left Wang's feet cuffed to the Tiger Bench for 20 days. In November, Liu Gang, Wu Guangjie and other policemen tied up Wang Ying, paraded her publicly through the streets with death-row inmates to humiliate her. In 2003, Wu Guangjie ordered foot shackles to be used on Wang for more than three months because Wang insisted on practicing the Falun Gong exercises.

On March 4, 2004, three policemen from Suizhong County, Huludao City, Liaoning Province arrested practitioner Zhang Xiaomin from Suizhong and confiscated some of her property. Policeman Ren and others from the Suizhong Police Station Political Security Section took away Zhang's Dafa books and materials. The police also confiscated Zhang's television. They later took Zhang to the police station. Zhang is now being detained at the Suizhong Detention Center. Her paralyzed father-in-law is alone at home.

Criminal Record of Police from Shashi Area, Jingzhou City, Hubei Province

On February 25, 2004, practitioner Ouyang Fan, who was an art teacher at the Jingzhou City Shashi Area Wenxing School, and practitioner Zhang Jiuliang, who worked in the Gansheng Clothing Company as an electrician, were arrested by the Liaoyuan Police Department while distributing Dafa materials at night. In the morning of the 26^th, the Shashi police confiscated some of Zhang Jiuliang's property, and the two practitioners were sent to the Shashi First Detention Center. The main perpetrators from the first section of the Shashi Police Department are Hu Youcai (director), Liu Juhua (assistant director), Chen Jinhua, Guo Minwen, Li Zhigang, and Yang Jianong (head of the Shashi Area "610 Office").

The Police from the Tieling County Political Security Section Detention Center in Liaoning Province Torture Dafa Practitioners

On August 1, 2002, Liaoning Dafa practitioners, Mr. Zhao Qingguo and Ms. Zhang Shuxia, were detained and brutally beaten by the Tieling County police because they visited practitioners who were in the forced labor camp. Zhao Qingguo's hands and legs were shackled to metal brackets in the ground and stretched in a T-shape for more than ten days. Zhao was shocked many times with electric batons, and force-fed with a thick mixture of salt and water or water that contained chili oil. The prolonged stretching caused Zhao's arms to become numb and he was unable to lift them. He could not stand up, as his leg muscles were injured.

(1) yuan: Chinese currency, the monthly salary for an average Chinese urban worker is about 500 yuan.

(2) Tiger Bench: Practitioners are forced to sit on a small iron bench that is approximately 20 cm (6 inches) tall with their knees tied together. With their hands tied behind their backs or sometimes placed on their knees, they are forced to sit straight up and look straight ahead. They are not allowed to turn their heads, close their eyes, talk to anyone or move at all. Several inmates are assigned to watch over the practitioners and force them to remain motionless while sitting on the bench. Usually some hard objects are inserted underneath the practitioners' lower legs or ankles to make it harder for them to tolerate this abuse.

(3) "610 Office": An agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems.